IMBb:
Ratings: 6.4/10 from 365 users
Story:
Story follows Kaiji, a poor, unmotivated guy who has no dreams and simply works mechanically at a convenience stall everyday. One day after venting his frustrations (at being looked down on and being poor in general) on, and thus damaging, a BMW, he got dragged to Teiai Company to process he repayment, and in the process was notified by the same company that the friend he signed as guarantor for a loan has fled, leaving a debt totaling 2.02 mil to him. Thereafter he was tricked into participating in a game that could relieve him of his debt...
My Rating: 5.0/10
I wasted my time watching this show. Don't watch it. Just don't.
If you simply like the actor, he has better movies.
First of all, I didn't like the characters. Kaiji's a wimp, and an idiot. I actually like idiots, especially in Japanese anime/film, cuz generally in Japanese films the idiots are lovable people, but Kaiji is just an idiot. Idiotically naive, and not lovable in the least. The movie poster and title is terribly misleading... even in his "show off" moments in the film, Kaiji was in no way "The Ultimate Gambler", nor as cool as he looks in the poster. Neither was there any saving grace in the supporting characters, nor in the antagonist camp. The creeps in Teiai are all too extreme, too absolutely evil, for one to even believe in their existence, much less relate to them.
Tatsuya Fujiwara's performance was... mediocre. I wasn't really surprised though. Given the script, it's hard to do anything with it. In fact, in a sense, he succeeded, since the participants were all supposed to be trash. If that was in fact his aim, yes, thanks for showing me that Kaiji's a goon. In any case though, it didn't help in raising my liking for the film.
The subtitling was sloppy. Games were lame. Dramatised moments were actually eye-rolling and facepalm moments. List goes on.
There were only 2 redeeming qualities. Soundtrack, which was rich, and fit to the emotional moments, inappropriate though those moments were. Another is it's interesting reflection of real life in the compressed world of Kaiji - criticism of the current world system in which people are put in an endless cycle of work and debt, and only made to be temporarily happy via an over emphasis on materialism. The novelty of it fades though in the overwhelming retardedness that is lawless Teiai though.
In the end, perhaps I should have gone with the manga/anime instead of trusting an adaptation, even by the Japanese themselves. The anime and manga were supposed to be good. And I expect them to be, since it's a series by the mangaka who did Akagi. Must have simply raised my expectations too much after watching the live action of Liar Game. If you read this review first... don't watch it k.
There's a sequel... Kaiji 2: Jinsei dakkai gêmu (2011) Might watch it since it's rated 8... hopefully its better.
In contrast is...
Movie Review: C+侦探 (aka The Detective)(2007)
IMDb:
Ratings: 6.5/10 from 627 users
Story:
Story follows Tam (Aaron Kwok), a poor private detective who decides to help find a woman his friend Fei Long claims is trying to kill him. But each piece of information he unveils also uncovers another death, each apparently by suicide. Is suicide really the cause though?
My rating: 8.0
Watch this :) It'll give an experience to remember :)
We have Aaron Kwok, Fui-on Shing. What more needs to be said? The movie is a brew of heavy suspense with a pinch of comedy - an unlikely and generally fatal mixture if mishandled. But in the hands of these masters, the film was excellent! While not a masterpiece, the pacing of the film was superb. One is always kept on one's toes, always guessing, but appropriate moments are given to relieve said toes with a light dose of nervous laughter.
The music was especially good. It was practically transparent, melding seamlessly with the film to create fluctuations in suspense so crucial to the film. Simply spectacular :)
Watch it!! You won't regret it :)
There's a sequel... B+侦探. Said to be not as good as this one, but will watch it anyway. Wait for the review! :)
Such a huge difference in quality, even though the ratings were practically the same. This is quite possibly cuz of the type of audience, which is generally western on IMDb.
Well till next time :) And really go watch C+. It was so good my sister totally freaked out =P
Cya!
Luv,
Ray
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