What should have been a comic Dirty Harry-ish farce, became an gritty, dark and violent tale, when director Kinji Fukasaku walked out of the project and Kitano was offered the chance to direct. Kitano virtually rewrote the entire script, removed all comedy and made himself a platform, from which he could show his serious side. Originally a stand-up comic, Kitano followed the advice from friend and director Nagisa Oshima and played criminals in order to express not only his darker side but also his dramatic talent. Having done this quiet successfully on TV and in Oshima’s “Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence”, Kitano felt let down, when all he was offered was comic roles: Now he had the chance to control what he wanted.

The story is pretty straight forward. Azuma (Kitano) is a rogue homicide detective, a loner without respect or care for neither his superiors nor police procedures, using violence and other unethical methods to get results. When his best friend gets killed by the yakuza, he goes after the killer, but instead of getting support, Azuma is charged with wrongful arrest, planting of evidence and attempting to kill a prisoner. He is fired. Having lost everything and feeling betrayed, he buys a gun and goes on a personal vendetta, seeking justice in the only way he knows: By killing everyone in his way.

Extraordinary simple in both story and visual style, Kitano may not have had a clue how to direct, but his passion and vision sat aside any lacking of experience. An extraordinary strong directorial debut by any standard.

The original title, “Sono otoko, kyobo ni tsuki”, means "Watch out, this man is dangerous" and is far more fitting for the story that the rather generic American title, “Violent Cop”.
 

1.85:1 Disc Size: 37,841,268,810 bytes

Feature Size: 30,112,960,512 bytes

DVD Release Date: December 3, 2001
Keep Case

Aspect Ratio:- 1.85:1

Chapters: 12

ADDITION: Film Movement - Region 'A' - Blu-ray September 16': Firstly, let's get illustrator and comic-book artist Ben Marra‘s poster/cover controversy out of the way. Is it the worst Blu-ray cover ever? Yes, it probably is - but no matter how 'misplaced' I might find the package art - it wouldn't deter me from owning a Blu-ray of a film I truly appreciate. My advice would be 'get over it and move on'.

Film Movement include a 20-minute video entitled That Man Is Dangerous: The Birth of Takeshi Kitano that has colleagues discuss their awareness and relationships with him, and his persona and style. There is both an original Violent Cop trailer and new HD re-release trailer, as well as 6 other Film Movement trailers. The package contains a, liner notes, collector's booklet, featuring film essay by Tom Vick, the Asian film Curator for the Freer and Sackler Galleries (The Smithsonian's Museums of Asian Art); cast and crew credits.

Violent Cop marked the directorial debut of “Beat” Takeshi Kitano and I still find it an intriguing film. It's very violent and Azuma (as Beat Takeshi) is an intense character. I'm glad I finally got to see it is a reasonable digital presentation - as I said, far from demo, but still very watchable. Fans of the film or director should definitely consider indulging. Another competent technical Blu-ray transfer from Film Movement!