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There are only few glimpses of Miike on display to keep us interested until we reach the payoff - it's possible to forget who made it. They're nice glimpses, but the film in itself is standard fare. I did like seeing yet another facet to this remarkable director.

If you want to see this for any reason I can't see any subsequent discs offering much improvement on this, unless you're very keen on extras. The disc is mastered in a very rich way, with strong whites and almost overly-strong blacks and it copes with rapid changes and movement very well.

The disc = more than adequate, suits me fine : I won't replace it. The film = disappointing, yet strangely fascinating.

A missed chance for Miike? Well, I don't think overtly commercial large-budget films offer him or the viewers / fans much. If this had been a low-budget production I think the film would've been much better off, and Miike could have made something exceptional without the need for a substantial sense of responsibility.

Thankfully, although he is moving on to more commercial work in some respects, he's obviously happier with the good work he does on little money : and there are plenty of those films. He's more suited to films which often get could lost amongst the other V-Cinema releases, where there's freedom for his ideas, but which shine despite the restrictions facing him. Still, I do hope for the more commercially-oriented employers offer him more freedom as time goes on.