Blazing Fists
If I didn’t have a job and other responsibilities, I think Takashi Miike’s filmmography is one I would probably fully dive into. On Letterboxd, he’s credited with 125 films as a director; I have probably seen 5-6 over the years. Some I will definitely get to and review here, but most will probably go unseen by me. Each time I watch a film of his, however, I find myself appreciating how he immerses himself into a genre, and just lets the chips fall where they may. The latest one I’ve had the chance to see, “Blazing Fists,” is another successful genre exercise that was a lot of fun to watch.
In Japan, this one went by the title, “Blue Fight: The Breaking Down of Young Blue Warriors.” That’s a mouthful, to be sure. I think “Blazing Fists” is the better title, but I can see where Miike was going with the original title. Here, we meet two young men while they are in juvie- Ikuto (Danhi Kinoshita) and Ryoma (Kaname Yoshizawa). One has been in there for about a year, the other just got put in. Neither seem like truly bad kids- just caught up in circumstance. One day, a world famous fighter, Mikuru Asakura, comes to speak, and they’re inspire to one day fight in his Breaking Down competition. They eventually get released, but they find that past rivalries might keep them from what they want to accomplish.
The genre Miike is working in here is as American as can be- the juvenile delinquent goes straight subgenre of young adult movies. Some of these movies start with the teens/YAs starting fine before getting pulled in by crime, but “Blazing Fists” starts with them in juvie, and trying to reform people’s thoughts on them. No, it doesn’t adhere to the formula exactly, but that’s the Miike magic. The connection he allows us to form with Ikuto and Ryoma, who have supportive mothers, is a big key to the film working, especially as those rivalries that led to at least one of them ending up in juvie comes back to haunt them. This is a fun and energetic story about changing your future, and yourselves. Of forging unlikely friendships and having forgiveness. It’s also about knowing when it’s important to fight, and when to hold back. “Blazing Fists” worked for me, and if you’re a fan of filmmakers pushing genres in different directions, you cannot really go wrong with Miike.
