A world-weary yakuza in Tokyo is assigned to take his clan to Okinawa to help settle a dispute between two factions. He's suspicious of the assignment, but he goes, and within a couple days, his role remains unclear and several of his men are dead. He retreats to a house on a remote beach to wait. The first night there, he rescues a young woman from an assault, and they develop a playful relationship. Over time, it becomes clear he's been set up, sent to Okinawa so that others can take over his lucrative territory. As his clan dwindles, he plans a revenge.
Very disappointing coming from Takeshi Kitano after I just watched his version of ZATOICHI. On the cover of this DVD is a quote of how it's reminiscent of GOODFELLAS. This film is in no way, shape or form reminiscent of Martin Scorsese's masterpiece. I would barely consider this a gangster picture. There's barely any violence and shootouts. It's basically about the boss, Aniki Murakawa, waiting on a beach like a dumbbell while people take over his turf. Seriously, that's about 1 hour or 1 hour 10 minutes of the 90 minute movie. As a result, I was almost asleep by the time Sonatine finally decided to take his revenge.
