I feel strangely alone in considering this to be Takeshi Kitano's best work, as well as one of the best directorial debuts of recent decades. In a way, it's essentially Dirty Harry drained of all the guilty satisfaction someone might find in the brutal vengeance. Takeshi's titular character is so numb to it all, his emotions deadened by tragedy and corruption, that every act of violence feels sad and pointless yet horrifyingly inevitable. Bad Lieutenant was more optimistic than this film but it's one of the most fascinating, harrowing character studies ever to come out of the psychologically damaged vigilante-cop genre.