15 Best Movie Thrillers From The 1980s

Reductively, you could call Takeshi Kitano the Japanese Clint Eastwood. The former comedian and castle owner has written, directed, and starred in over a dozen films, many of which are hardboiled cop and/or gangster pictures. His 1989 debut, succinctly translated to Violent Cop, will give you a solid idea of what the man’s all about.

Kitano’s specialty is barely restrained rage. He stars in Violent Cop as Azuma, the titular aggressive law enforcement officer. After the Yakuza push him too far, he abandons the police department’s code of conduct and declares all out war on the city’s criminal underbelly.

It’s a remarkably assured debut, gritty, grimy, and unsurprisingly very violent. Kitano is about as charismatic an actor as you could ever hope to see. His style is minimalist - indeed he hardly even speaks - but there’s no taking your eyes off him as he brawls his way through the city, dealing out his brand of painful justice.

Kitano would make better films (1993’s Sonatine and 1997’s Hana-bi being two of his finest in the same genre), but his brand and ethos were laid out here, fully realised.