"A grand, glorious gun opera … the bomb Fukasaku used to explode not just the myth of the righteous Yakuza, but also the myth of Japan's post-WW II recovery." – Film Comment

In the wake of World War II and the atomic destruction of Hiroshima and Nagaskai, Japan's streets fell under the control of the Yakuza – gangs of organised criminals that, much like the Italian Mafia, used their fearsome reputation to intimidate opponents and buy political leverage.

In contrast to the glamorised portrayals of the Yakuza in Japanese films of the era, director Kinji Fukasaku (Battle Royale) is unflinching in his depiction of the gangsters' brutality (as well as their occasional comic ineptitude). Earning deserved comparisons to The Godfather and cited by Quentin Tarantino as a key influence on his work, this digitally restored epic is both a powerful social critique and a pulsating action film: a masterpiece of Japanese cinema.

"Vital, emotional, even frequently funny … it's what action cinema always promises but rarely has the balls to deliver." – Images