I am a huge fan of the brilliant cinematic genius Takeshi Kitano, his films "Hana-Bi" (1997) and "Violent Cop" (1991) are two of my all-time favorites and I also found several other Kitano films such as "Zatoichi" (2003) excellent. "Brother" of 2001 is in my opinion Kitano's weakest film up to date, which does not mean that it's bad. It is just not quite as brilliant as Kitano's other work. Kitano is once again director and leading actor, and he once again delivers a great performance in the lead.

Yakuza Aniki Yamamoto (Kitano) flees to America after his death is ordered by a Yakuza clan. Yamamoto goes to LA where his younger brother Ken is supposed to study. Instead of studying, however, Ken deals drugs with some American friends. And it doesn't take Yamamoto long to plan some drastic improvements for his little brother's gang...

Takeshi Kitano's performance is once again superb, this guy certainly is one of the greatest cinematic multi-talents who ever lived. I found the Japanese characters great in general, and if it was only for them, "Brother" would have probably almost reached Kitano's masterpieces in brilliance. I personally didn't like the American characters though. Omar Epps certainly is a good actor, but his character of Denny is just not very deep, simply the very stereotypical African American street gangster seen in two out of three cheesy Hollywood blockbusters. And that counts for the other American characters too. It wasn't actually that bad with Omare Epps, simply because he is a very good actor. Besides the flatness of the American characters, I found the movie very good. It is once again beautifully and imaginatively filmed in typical Kitano style, and it has the typical Kitano humor that I love. The movie is also very violent, so it's probably not for people who are easily offended by brutality in films. What I also really like about "Brother" is the fact that at least half of the movie is in Japanese. The Japanese characters also talk Japanese when they are in the US.

"Brother" is arguably Kitano's weakest movie, and definitely my least favorite of his movies, but that doesn't mean it's bad. We're talking about a great cinematic genius here, and "Brother" certainly is a good, suspenseful, entertaining, stylish and interesting film. In case you don't know Kitano yet, i recommend to watch "Hana-bi" or "Violent Cop" before watching this, but in case you're already familiar with Kitano "Brother" is certainly worth watching. My fellow Kitano fans should not miss this. Recommended 7/10

Wow. According to IMDb, the body count in this film is a whopping 78! Had I known this ahead of time, I probably wouldn't have watched this film. I am usually turned off by overly violent films, as too often there isn't much of a story and it's just an excuse for gross-out special effects that appeal to our lowest instincts. So did the film win me over or was it just another blood-fest? Well, it did impress me--that's for sure.

Takeshi Kitano (also known as Beat Takeshi) wrote, directed and starred in this film. It begins in Japan and two rival yakuza clans are at war with each other. Eventually, to end the conflict, the surviving members of one clan officially join the other--all but one hard guy (Kitano). Instead of killing him, however, they send him overseas--to an exile, of sorts.

Kitano arrives in America to stay with his younger half-brother. However, the younger guy is a punk drug dealer hanging with low-lifes--not a yakuza big-wig like Kitano. One of the younger half-brother's friends (Omar Epps) meets Kitano--and the meeting is very memorable! In fact, EVERYTHING about his dealings with Kitano turn out to be memorable. Kitano soon decides to take out the half-brother's enemies and starts a gang war with the Mexican gangs thanks to his crazy macho ways--and Kitano seems not the least bit concerned during all this as his face is quite deadpan and cold throughout. After all, in his mind, if people hurt you, just kill them...as well as their friends. He is truly a scary guy here! And, a scary get bent on taking over everything. At least it's nice to see a man with ambition! Following Takeshi's example, his small band of punks quickly grows. And, so does their ambition and love of violence. Among all this is a weird suicide scene (in fact, there was another really weird one later). I guess it makes sense, in a way...but man is it weird. And so the body count rises...very quickly. And the younger half-brother soon sees himself as a really, really bad guy--and it's easy to see that he and his friends are setting themselves up to fall.

After seeing this film, I noticed it bore some resemblance to an earlier Kitano film--"Sonatine". Both have very similar themes, a similar deadpan performance by Kitano and feature some oddly surreal scenes of mobsters at work and play. And, both have ENORMOUS body counts. While good films and I certainly could respect how they were crafted, they also were both pretty unpleasant viewing and I can't imagine watching more of these! Well made but yuck! By the way, it was nice to see James Shigeta in this film. He was once a very popular actor but hasn't been as active in recent years. Also, during the course of all the killing, did you notice that NEVER did any police respond to any of the gunfire?! Maybe it's just too common an occurrence in LA...or the film just forgot about this.

One of my favourite 'Beat' Takeshi films and one of my favourite gangster films of all time: this is up there with the best of Scorsese and Coppola, a truly excellent little film which went under the radar for most people. Some people don't care for this film, feeling that it's too Western in approach, lacking in the Zen and tranquillity department, but I have to disagree. I feel like this was the pinnacle of Takeshi's career when it was made, as if his earlier movies (VIOLENT COP etc.) were all building up to this moment, a film in which everything is done just right.

It's not a film to describe too much, as that would spoil the story. Really, it's a tale of the rise and fall of a criminal gang, a Scorsese movie done on a small-scale, if you will. I loved the American setting and the East meets West themes, which I found added to the story greatly. It's a very violent film, with many scenes punctuated by shocking death, but it never seems gratuitous, more expected. As both star and director, Takeshi is at the top of his game here. Never has he been more icy cold, more stony-faced – and yet Aniki has to be the most honourable and respectable gangster he's ever played. The supporting cast is great, too, especially Omar Epps, who's given a really interesting character to play. All in all, a fantastic little film and one I look forward to watching again.