When "Graveyard Of Honor" arrived in the mail, I was eager to give it a spin. Having seen several of director Takashi Miike's films over the last 5 years or so, I have grown rather fond of his original, surrealistic, and often bizarre directorial style (see "Ichi The Killer" and "Happiness Of The Katakuri" to see what I mean). While "Graveyard" is surprisingly a more restrained Miike Yakuza tale (as opposed to "Dead Or Alive"), it's nevertheless a fascinating film to watch.

"Graveyard Of Honor" is actually a remake of a Kinji Fukasaku film of the same name. Both movies are based on the true life story of a notorious Yakazu gang member named Rikuo Ishimatsu. In a nutshell, the story of Rikuo revolves around him saving a Yakuza boss's life in a restaurant he worked at. Shortly after, he is rewarded by becoming a member of the yakuza. The problem? Rikuo is a psychotic, murderous rapist who has no soul or morals. What follows is a hellish look into Rikuo's horrific life as he kills, winds up in jail, mistreats women, gets hooked on drugs, etc. "Graveyard Of Honor" is certainly not a relaxing film for the whole family and it's certainly not for the faint of heart. The movie is an unflinching, ultra-violent down-and-dirty portrait of an out of control Yakuza man who amazingly seems to escape death. Let us not forget that Rikuo also manages to evade the police until he is eventually caught. In an incredible scene, a drugged out Rikuo fires at hundreds of police that are surrounding his apartment (until he runs out of bullets). How much of the script is exactly true to life is beyond me, but one can't deny that the story makes for one hell of an engaging film. The only real flaw here is the 130 minute running time as the film could have easily been cut 20 to 30 minutes. The middle act suffers from too much repetitive sequences. How many times do we have to see Rikuo strung out on drugs or have the Yakuza search for him?

The 16:9 anamorphic widescreen picture quality is average at best as the print contains a good chunk of grain and dirt. To be honest, I hardly even noticed the Dolby Digital audio track as I was too wrapped up in the film. I will say that the audio was perfectly acceptable as it never distracted. Plus, the music and dialogue levels were spot on. Note: viewers can watch the film with yellow subtitles with green overlaps or with white subtitles and gray overlaps.

Disc 2 contains all of the extras. The extras include: * Credits * Notes about Miike and "Graveyard Of Honor" * Image gallery * A 4 minute "Premiere Special" that has Miike and actors talking before and after the screening. * 4 minutes of "Press Release Interviews" * Trailers for "Graveyard Of Honor," "Shinobi No Mono," "Shogun Assassin," "The Trail Of Blood," and "Big Bang Love, Juvenile A." * A 2 minute "Making Of Teaser" featuring a few shots of set footage. * An 8 minute "Making Of Featurette" showcasing behind the scenes shots of Miike directing. * An 18 minute "Interview Special" that has Miike and cast members chatting about casting, the Yakuza, and the love story.

"Graveyard Of Honor" may not be one of Takashi Miike's best works, but it's certainly an interesting departure for him. True, it still has many of the uber-violent Miike trademarks, but it's more straight forward and mature than his usual fare. Worth a look.