Brother

Takeshi Kitano (a.k.a. "Beat" Takeshi), Japan's king of the artistically ultra-violent yakuza flick, makes his English language debut with this moody L.A. gangland drama that sports all the bloody shootouts the writer-director-actor is known for, but loses its grip while trying to grab for an emotional hook. Takeshi stars as Yamamoto, a hunted Tokyo mob enforcer who escapes to SoCal after a turf war leaves his clan decimated. Muscling in on the operation of his younger half-brother (Claude Maki), who is scraping by as a petty thug, Yamamoto quickly organizes his shabby crew into a merciless force poised to take over the local territories of both street and Mafia gangs. Intense, but vague (and sometimes awkward) performances take a back seat to the picture's extremely graphic violence that doesn't have the elegance and oddly emotional depth of Kitano's Japanese works. The emotion does come later, though, in the form of a jarringly over-acted finale that veers Brother so far off course you'd think the picture blew a tire. Optional. (R. Blackwelder)