Before watching this film, I was aware of a great deal of negativity (hence the low rating), and so I sat down to watch "Izo" with a great deal of trepidation. But what a film! I just didn't see how the majority of the negativity could be justified. Certainly, "Izo" is highly incomprehensible with little or no plot. It is also sickeningly violent in places. However, this is a Takashi Miike film we're talking about, not some "safe", conventional film. Therefore, when people sit down to watch one of his films, surely it is a given that it is not going to be an easy ride? And yet the negativity comes from professed fans of his films...<br /><br />As I was watching the film it occurred to me that this film maker, famed for the violent and bizarre content of his films and who seems keen on shocking his audience, must have increasing difficulties shocking anyone, as more fans follow his work. How many more bodily fluids can he drown his films in, after the taboo smashing "Visitor Q"? How more "out there" can he become after the bizarre "Gozu"? Is it any wonder that "Izu" is so bizarre? You can't blame the guy for pushing at the boundaries.<br /><br />Repetitive? Of course. Izo kills some people for about two hours, and then the film ends. But the film is about a journey, seemingly through the afterlife, not a neat Beginning, Middle and End style of story. Like other "journey" films (LOTR, for example) it is episodic - Izo goes somewhere and does something, then goes somewhere else and does something else. I for one, found this much less tedious than LOTR - is two hours really that long when compared with Peter Jackson's slow-mo fantasy epic?? And are we really so conditioned by Hollywood's 90 minute limit that an extra half an hour is that much of a struggle?! There was certainly a huge gap between the trailer and the actual film. The trailer made "Izo" seem to be an out-and-out action film to get the heart pounding, and yet it is so much more than this, as it gets the head pounding with unusual, inventive, symbolic visuals and philosophical discussions. And a folk singer (One user hinted that the lingering shots of the singer were far beyond the boundaries of human tolerance. He's singing a song! I like listening to songs!).<br /><br />Throw in some cheeky (possible) references to other films - an upside down(!)wedding massacre (Kill Bill), bullet time tomfoolery (Matrix), wire work that defies the laws of physics (hmm, too many to mention), a chase through a bamboo forest (House of Flying Daggers), a scene that reminded by of the lake scene in Hero, and probably many more that I've missed. Add some bizarre visuals - a giant caterpillar and butterflies emerging from a dead body and Izo travelling across and destroying Infinity - and you've got a pretty engaging film at worst, and a great film (my opinion) at best.<br /><br />One of Miike's best, and a film I will be watching again.