Dead or Alive

Ryuuichi leads a small Triad crew trying to carve out territory in the crime-ridden Shinjuku district of Tokyo, clashing with rival Chinese and Japanese gangs as he seeks control of the local underworld. Detective Jojima is determined to shut the gang down, but his daughter's life-threatening illness forces him into a bargain with the very criminals he pursues. Ryuuichi also faces trouble at home: his younger brother returns from studies in the United States and begins to understand where the money that paid for his education came from. Violence escalates on both sides of the law as the two men's paths converge.

Takashi Miike directed this 1999 Japanese action-crime thriller, the third of the forty-two films he has directed in chronological order, following Ambition Without Honor and preceding Audition. Toshiki Kimura wrote the screenplay, and the 105-minute film was produced by Toei Video Company, with Mitsuru Kurosawa, Tsutomu Tsuchikawa and Makoto Okada as producers. Riki Takeuchi plays Ryuuichi and Show Aikawa plays Detective Jojima, heading a credited cast of twenty-two that includes Renji Ishibashi as Aoki, Shingo Tsurumi as Chen, Ren Osugi as Yan and Kaoru Sugita as Mrs. Jojima.

Audience response has been moderate. On IMDb the film holds a rating of 6.7 out of 10 from around 9,000 votes, while on TMDB it stands at 6.4 out of 10 from 182 votes.