One of Japans most well-known directors & actors, Kitano Takeshi first rose to massive fame in the 1970s & 80s as a comedian & television personality under the stage name Beat Takeshi. His filmmaking career as Kitano Takeshi began in 1989 with Violent Cop, which he was originally set to only star in. After the films original director Fukasaku Kinji stepped down, Kitano took over the directing reins & turned what was planned to be a comedy into the kind of dark & violent crime drama that he would come to be known for as a director.
Kitano stars as the eponymous violent cop Azuma, a lone wolf detective who flouts protocol & gets things done with his fists. He discovers that his detective friend Iwaki (Hiraizumi Sei) is involved in drug dealing, but Iwaki turns up dead in an apparent suicide soon after. Azuma goes rogue to investigate the case & cover-up, but his persistence leads to disastrously violent consequences.