Metacritic reviews

I've seen three or four other movies by Miike, and I can tell you that he's one of the most exciting, versatile directors working today.

Takashi is a master of the jagged quick cut and the shocker finish, and his head-spinning story is pumped up with almost more bravado than a single screen can handle.

Everything about Takashi Miike's brilliant and blood-soaked crime thriller comes as a shock.

Ultimately a disappointment because it refuses to take any aspect of itself seriously.

It's marvelous or unwatchable.

This is no-holds-barred filmmaking. Some viewers will find it disgusting. Others will call the director's bluff.

Not for the squeamish (a guy rips out his own arm, for goodness' sake), the film is nevertheless more than just a gonzo gross-out. But not by much.

While the whole is diverting, the ending's utter repudiation of reality seems like pissing on the audience; -- we feel like we've been suckers for bothering to care about the characters at all.

A soulless compilation of thrills.