Tales Of Revenge: Serpent's Path

Serpent's Path (1998, Kiyoshi Kurosawa) is a loose sequel to Eyes of the Spider.

Popular yakuza star Sho Aikawa plays a mild mannered (oh hoho just wait) math professor and gang member who's helping his friend avenge the torture of his young daughter. They kidnap and kill people.

About 70% of the movie takes place in one big warehouse. Every once in a while they venture out to kidnap someone but all the development happens in the warehouse. Kurosawa has a lot of these low budget movies and he really does wonders with them.

The characters are complicated, the tension is huge, and the surprises keep coming. He uses all the little things: sound, repetition, light, and some creative scripting to make you forget entirely that the movie probably cost about 1% of the average Hollywood film to make.

The only bad thing is that it's notably better than the prequel, but it's a little bit important to watch both.

4 stars
Eyes of the Spider, Yakuza Demon, Boiling Point