| 80 |
Village Voice
J. Hoberman
If nothing else, Brother confirms Kitano's stature as the most original purveyor of on-screen mayhem since Sam Peckinpah.
|
| 75 |
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Sean Axmaker
It's a romantic fantasy of the gangster brotherhood and their doomed lives, executed with Takeshi's unique mix of stoic ruthlessness and giddy energy.
|
| 75 |
Miami Herald
Rene Rodriguez
Kitano's most enjoyable, flat-out fun movie, provided you can stomach the violence.
|
| 70 |
Chicago Reader
Lisa Alspector
A wizard at manipulating time, Kitano introduces staccato elements that interrupt the meditative pace even as they help set it.
|
| 70 |
The New York Times
A.O. Scott
Mr. Kitano directed, edited and wrote Brother -- and his style of close-to-the-vest brutality travels extremely well.
|
| 70 |
LA Weekly
Manohla Dargis
Brother is a solid return to gangster form for Kitano, who knows how to transcend the most overly familiar genre clichés without betraying the rules of engagement.
|
| 63 |
Philadelphia Inquirer
Carrie Rickey
When it works, which is often, Kitano's movie is an anthropology of the distinctions between Japanese yakuza and American gangsters.
|
| 60 |
TV Guide
Maitland McDonagh
Delivers some powerful emotional wallops alongside the chopsticks-up-the-nose violence, and manages the remarkable feat of making venerable American genre conventions seem eerily alien.
|
| 60 |
Mr. Showbiz
Michael Atkinson
Sags, lollygags, and blusters too much to sustain the what-the-hell momentum that Kitano achieves in his best movies.
|
| 50 |
Christian Science Monitor
David Sterritt
Enough odd twists to be mildly interesting.
|
| 50 |
Chicago Sun-Times
Roger Ebert
A typical Kitano film in many ways, but not one of his best ones. Too many of the killing scenes have a casual, perfunctory tone.
|
| 50 |
Chicago Tribune
Loren King
Disappointingly hollow.
|
| 50 |
Boston Globe
Jay Carr
Cool killers - Kitano's stock in trade - do not necessarily make for cool movies.
|
| 50 |
New Times (L.A.)
Andy Klein
While Brother may be the perfect introduction for Kitano newcomers, longtime fans may find it superfluous and even a step down from the likes of Hana-Bi (1997) and Sonatine (1993).
|
| 50 |
San Francisco Chronicle
Bob Graham
Beat Takeshi fans wouldn't think of missing this one. Moviegoers who hate violence wouldn't be caught dead at it.
|
| 50 |
Austin Chronicle
Marc Savlov
It's rougher stuff than most would expect, though not unrewarding in its own horrific way.
|
| 40 |
Los Angeles Times
Gene Seymour
While Yamamoto's bullets never miss, Kitano's attempt at tragic grandeur of "Godfather"-esque proportions misses to an almost embarrassing degree.
|
| 38 |
New York Post
Jonathan Foreman
Takeshi's elliptical directorial style here is overwhelmed by the script's crudeness and lack of narrative power.
|
| 38 |
New York Daily News
Jack Mathews
Wretch of a B movie.
|
| 30 |
Variety
David Rooney
The mix feels flat and the story remains a fairly banal account of underworld exploits whose emotional gears never fully engage.
|
| 25 |
Entertainment Weekly
Owen Gleiberman
Critics tend to fawn over the Japanese director-star Takeshi Kitano (a.k.a. Beat Takeshi), but am I the only one who finds his films impossible to make heads or tails of?
|
| 20 |
Washington Post
Desson Thomson
Watching this movie, you also have to ask yourself: Just how many acts of self-inflicted finger amputations do I really want to see?
|
| 10 |
Washington Post
Rita Kempley
Bewildering, tediously violent.
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