I enjoyed the story. It's a combination Liar Game (Japanese drama) and 1984 (George Orwell). A secret world unfolds as a people are pitted against one another. I didn't find the the story to be predictable, but there was a slow part in the middle that made me want to fast-forward.
Generally, the main actors all over acted with the exception of Yuki Amami. Lots of screaming, crying, banging of fists, etc. This was the major downfall of the film in my opinion. I debated giving it a 4 or 5. However, I decided on 5 because the overacting did not inhibit my ability to enjoy the film, and I generally think that Japanese actors tend to overact.
The music was nice. It fit the feel of the movie. There were definitely some songs I will look up.
Overall, it's an enjoyable movie, but not a "must see before you die" film. People who liked Liar Game or The Quiz Show will probably like this movie.
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Hmm.. Though, Endo made the best business at th end.
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The idea is interesting and the action will capture you. Even the unfairness of it all is at one point unbelievable but foreseeable. And yet you\'\'ll find yourself rooting for him, hopping he\'\'ll win in the end.
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I was skeptical of this movie because the anime became too complex and confusing for me after only 4 episodes (I ended up dropping it), but this movie was really well-done and I'm gonna tell you why.
Story: This movie emphasized the concept of greed and social hierarchy extremely well. The people with less money had less power and were always cheated whilst the big dogs at the top got away scot free.
Watching the 'slaves' having to jump through more and more hoops to escape their fate was frustrating, and I found myself getting really involved in the story-line. I take my hat off to everyone who made this movie possible.
Acting/Cast: When I saw that Fujiwara Tatsuya was was going to be the protagonist of another movie, I was extremely interested to see how he'd do (loved him in Battle Royale, was iffy about him in Death Note), but I wasn't disappointed. The rest of the cast also get my vote for good acting.
In one review, someone said that there was a bit of over-acting but come on, if your LIFE was on the line and you were in a seemingly hopeless situation, you'd be going crazy too, so over-acting was not an issue for me; their pain was realistic.
Music: Typical suspense music in all the right places, I wasn't paying too much attention to it to be honest, I was too busy getting caught up in the drama.
Overall: Simply brilliant. A great, cunning movie that left me on the edge of my seat. I am someone who easily gets bored and not once did i want this movie to hurry up and end.
Exceeded my expectations completely.
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This review may contain spoilers
Good
I like this movie. It has an interesting story about gambling. And gambling is all about trust and luck, and they portray that really well in this story.Now to Kaiji. He is a gambler, has no money, has a bad life and is in debt. He runs from one misfortune to the next misfortune. He is too nice and people manipulate him with the idea that he can change his life. In reality, bad people use his desperation for their own entertainment. He is smart and that helps him a lot. And what I really like about him is that he fights for others. He is too nice and complicates his life when other people would make different choices. It is interesting to see what he does next. But we don't know much about his life at all.
People often complain that the actors are overacting, but I don't understand that point. This movie is an adaptation, so the actors act like the characters in the manga. The acting is good most of the time.
Overall, I can say that the movie is very well done and I can recommend it to everyone. The games are also great and very interesting.
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For a character like Kaiji I would have expected a more laid back kind of a character. I noticed in the movie that the actor [Tatsuya Fujiwara,Death Note's Light]had weird facial expressions at various scenes that were supposed to be pretty emotional. So I would say the emotional part of the movie was pretty under-developed due to the lack of expressiveness. Thus, I would not reccommend it for people who like everything to be packed full in a movie. The emotions and action.
However, despite the mediocre acting, the actions were pretty good. I liked them. And I am not a person who is easy to please. The gameplay was very brilliant and interesting to watch. The part where they show about forced labour could have been more developed in my opinion. However, it fit well with the movie.
In conclusion, I would recommend this movie for those who do not mind a little bit of mediocre acting and like to watch interesting mind blowing gameplays.
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