A Takeshi 'Beat' Kitano box set. In 'Violent Cop' (1989) 'Beat' is a renegade cop of the Dirty Harry genre. He gets into some nasty situations with drug cartels, and one merciless Yazuka kidnaps his sister. However, Beat is not scared to confront a hairy situation head on. 'Boiling Point' (1990) is a nihilistic comedy-drama about Masaki (Masahiko Ono), an incompetent baseball player who accidentally crosses the local 'yakuza' (gangsters) and travels to Okinawa to buy guns with which to defend himself. Once there he inadvertently hooks up with former gangster Uehara (Takeshi 'Beat' Kitano) who harbours his own reasons for wanting revenge on the mob. Together they plough headlong into a violent clash with the mob. Whilst in 'Sonatine' (1993) Murakawa (Kitano) is a powerful and trusted gangster who is persuaded to travel to Okinawa to help clear up a dispute between rival gangs. The task proves anything but easy, and as bloody conflict erupts around him, Murakawa realises that he has been