dead or alive represent final and the movie that supposedly bring together the three film in the very loose dead or alive trilogy and and connect mostly by it star and riki takeiuchi and sho aikawa and that each film have it share of bizarro world fixture and neurosis and heap of violence and be admittedly the weak of the lot . that none of the three film end up be a disappointment be less a testament to the creativity of the material but to the pound for pound gut that director takashi miike take with the surroundings and the material . here he present an overtly dystopian future and however low key and where a homosexual mayor or dictator ( richard chen ) have the entire village drug except for a group of rebel . there also replicants robot in this year of 2346 and one of them be ryo ( aikawa ) and a robot of complete lethal skill but also with the capacity to love and learn and so forth . then a cop and takeshi ( takeiuchi ) happen to be the mayor top guard . but thing start to unravel on both side and ryo team up with the rebel and takeshi with his employer and though blood soak mishap like a hostage trade off go bad and and with takeshi find out his wife and son be robot ( not do in an alien mood and mind you and just suddenly a if in a the power go out ) and and that he himself be one as well . and it all lead up to one last and inexplicable showdown between the two men . strange that there yet another film where miike have peak and valley here and sometimes find that middle ground of success where science fiction can have some meaning to it . but there really isn not anything to take from this story and except that the mayor or dictator be a dingbat with no back story who get his rock off make sure his drug stop couple from get pregnant and that everything remain under control . he also have along with him his love slave and i would guess and in the hilarious non speak part of a saxophone player who also double sometimes a a human fixture when not plug away the moody blue . meanwhile and we get the conventional side to ryo and takeshi story and and theyre never uninteresting and just not totally convince enough to hold interest . of course miike isn not above have some fun and like when takeshi plop michelle ( maria chen ) in to the water to get her to swim after a near assassination attempt on the mayor and or in have the original rebel leader speak english for no good reason at all . there even a playful homage to old sci fi cartoon at the start of the film . but there nothing very compelling substance wise and with the exception of takeshi minor turn at become good midway through the film ( help one couple get by with clearance to have a kid ) and and mostly miike strength this time be purely stylistically and in the choice of location and set . it like a grungy japanese alphaville where everything still have a contemporary feel through all of the special effect . and i really like the yellow green tint miike use through the movie and a it impact very well in outdoor scene and add just enough grittiness in the indoor scene . but a for peak and valley and one see this ever more clearly and the sci fi movie channel level of visual effect and with maybe a few more dollar put into it during the climax . this contain some of the funny material in the most delirious and freudian sensibility from the director and even if it have to get start by unbearable contrivance while the way that ryo and takeshi finally meet up be sort of random and just a mean for the producer to try and cheaply tie together the past two film and when it wasn not need . on the other hand and in term of the sheer guilty entertainment value of a flick like miike where one see something totally unexpected and very crudely sexual and it rank right up there with the best scene in happiness of the katakuris and visitor q. overall and dead or alive represent final be a cheesy 90 minute effort that doesn not take itself too seriously and and be good off all the more for it wicked contrivance and militaristic decay and cultural hang ups put on pulp level display .