The Age of Commercialism

Great visuals, story delivers no surprises

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.

What really dragged this movie down was the editing and how the teachers and students interactions in this film was so boring to sit through. Plus the editing made it seem like it was made by film students with an expensive camera within their budget. I know the parts between the teachers and students was to build upon what a fake hypocritical manipulative person the teacher is. But it wasn't very well done and the whole thing just dragged on and on. The only somewhat interesting thing between the whole teachers and students dynamics was the whole blackmailing ordeal and how the sociopath try to capitalize on it. I personally think it should have focused in a bit more on the build up of the relationship between the teacher who is a sociopath and his partner in crime in the past. The shootout scenes was just pretty much predictable and straightforward. I am not sure why none of the students jumped the guy, but yeah it's just straightforward screaming, running, hiding and blood. There really wasn't much creativity and there just wasn't enough build up of the characters that would make you want to care. Overall, this isn't a terrible movie but there is just way better Takashi Miike films out there.5/10

From the highly prolific but also controversial Japanese director, Takashi Miike, who's made virtually all kinds of movies in his filmmaking career so far, Lesson of the Evil arrives as yet another twisted thriller but unlike Audition or Ichi the Killer, it's a mostly dull cinema whose only strength is its blood-soaked massacre that goes on throughout its third act.Based on the novel of the same name, Lesson of the Evil tells the story of a very charming high-school teacher who is loved by his students & respected by his peers. His flamboyant personality however is only a mask that hides his true face, which ultimately surfaces when he decides to tackle the issue of bullying & bad behaviour among the student body with his own deranged plan.Written & directed by Takashi Miike, Lesson of the Evil has all the bizarre elements that one usually expects from this notorious director but the story is just all-out flat, vapid & lifeless despite all the gore content it packs in. For the majority of its runtime, it's just one segment placed on top of another with no idea of where it's supposed to be headed until it arrives at its extended climax, where it redeems itself a little.It's in the last 30 minutes or so where the movie finds its sure footing but it's a long wait to get there. The entire climactic segment has blood smeared through each n every frame and is possibly the only entertaining segment in the story and while it has the ability to shock & upset the newcomers, it's also fun in its own wicked manner for those who are pretty much used to this director's works. If only it was like this from the start.On an overall scale, Lesson of the Evil is a brutal, violent & disturbing nightmare if one only takes the final act into account for the remainder of the story only turns it into a very boring thriller. There are plenty of interesting elements scattered around and the lead character is undoubtedly an intriguing creation but a more cohesive structure, better editing & stronger characterisation would've improved the whole experience by a significant margin.

Funny? Comedy? Satire? Please... Whe live in such a morally degraded time that a psychopath cold bloodedly slaughtering his studends is regarded as ''funny''. To all people that aren t morally crippled I want to say that this is not a funny movie-not in the slightest. Miike shows us a portrait of a psychopath and does so in his his best master-filmmaker tradition. Intense , shocking ,gripping , and exiting. A serial killer , the charismatic teacher hunts down his students in a locked down school. You can almost barely sit in your seat rooting for the students to survive-but Miike is unpredictable as alwaysActing - excellent , SUPERB cinematography (!) , intense sound and unforseeable plot. ''To be continued?''-can t wait for the sequel!

Takashi Miike one of Japan's most biggest horror movie guru is finally back with "Lesson of the Evil". Will his absent be too much or will he come with something extraordinary which will give us shivers up our spins? Well at the International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) we had the chance to see the movie. Mr Hasumi, English teacher at a Japanese secondary school, is every teenager's dream. He is handsome, friendly and cool. He is also popular among the other teachers because of his clever methods of combating cribbing. Mr Hasumi defends his pupils: he efficiently tackles a gym teacher who can't keep his hands off the kids. His motives are however far from altruistic. That's no surprise. The viewer knows right from the terrifying start that disaster is looming. After some more events Hasumi shows his true colors and starts an rampage within the school. For the ones expected a real horror kind of movie you will be disappointed mainly because this isn't one. It is a grim tale about bad aspects in life and which harmful situations you can come across. But it is a typical Takashi movie it again is an reflection of things that are going down in society and all the horrors it can produce. I am not sure if Takashi wanted to make a statement or just give us another bold and bloody movie. After the movie develops it gets more in your face by the minute showing you what harmful products human being are to one and other. Visually the movie has some nice shots in it, you can see Takashi has matured on cinematographic things of his movies. Which for me really started to show in Crows 0 and 13 Assassins. He tries to put down at least the character Hasumi in different lights and really develops the character in the first part of the movie. You will feel that the students really are cannon fodder as the story develops and the subplots are completely destroyed in the second part of the movie. You can see this as a good thing or a bad thing for me it was good to see his main focus was on Hasumi and not all the others. Although 2+ hours was abit on the long side and makes the movie drag a bit from time to time. As I mentioned the second part of the movie is where Takashi shines again in his old ways. You feel the tension rise as Hasumi is changing into a not so perfect and lovely character. Hasumi comes to school and starts playing people out to each other at first in an none harmful way just to set up his master plan. As he does this he gets involved with a student and tries to extort another teacher for having sex with a fellow gay student. After his set up he takes his skeet gun and starts literally shooting the whole class and more! Blood goes everywhere students getting shot full in the face and Hasumi does it with a laugh. Let me say it one more time BLOOD goes everywhere, no resources are spared to throw in the blood! You can say it is literally shooting skeet without remorse all the little subplots of the students are being shot down. Which was remarkably easily done, two loved ones trying to get back to each other just before they do they both get blown away with all the visual violence to go with it. You can say that this is maybe one of Takashi's most straight forward movies, there isn't a deep underlying story to be found here. As Takashi tries to convince us with some Scandinavian folk story it isn't enough to persuade us to believe there is more. The movie is in your face and focuses on the extend of the violence in the shooting. Of course with all the shootings at school lately this topic isn't for the faint hearted since it really blows everyone away. This isn't his best work but it is a signal the master of extreme violence is back and it makes a mark! Just make sure you get through the beginning.