The Blood of Wolves

Just as the film pulls no punches when it comes to violence, it withholds the tension-breaking respite of pastiche.

[It's] an appealingly hard-boiled tribute to Kinji Fukasaku's seminal Battles Without Honor And Humanity series from Toei, the same studio that released Fukasaku's yakuza films back in the '70s.

The intricate web of lies, sleazeball rivalries, and stakeout benders that is The Blood Of Wolves does so, so, SO much right.

While those expecting a pure Yakuza drama might be disappointed, those who give Blood of Wolves a chance are in for one of the best and most entertaining Yakuza/police thrillers in years.

"The Blood of the Wolves" is a great movie, definitely among the best of the year, and hopefully, a splendid beginning in the resurrection of the Yakuza film.

You may approach The Blood of Wolves with a sense of nostalgia for yakuza films, but you'll leave with a sense that this pulpy genre has been injected with new life.

If you think the yakuza is bad, just look at the cops.

The film really pops when it indulges in the nasty side of criminal behaviour, especially when the chaotic shootouts and gory limb severing sequences get excessively graphic.

Director Kazuya Shiraishi delivers more of a homage than a revamp in "The Blood of Wolves," a cop thriller based on Yuko Yuzuki's novel of the same Japanese title.