SUMMARY :
An exciting psychological thriller starring Tatsuya Fujiwara as Kaiji, man forced to enter a deadly gambling competition aboard a cruise ship, to erase a large financial debt. Based on Nobuyuki Fukumoto's hit manga series which has sold over 11 million copies, Kaiji is a 26 year-old job-hopping bum who suddenly finds himself riddled in debt after a shadowy loan company informs him that he is responsible for a loan taken by his friend (who has since gone missing) and whom he casually co-signed as a loan guarantor for!
REVIEW :
This is definitely a very interesting movie indeed. Like any movie, it has it's flaws and golden moments.
FLAW ONE : The plot doesn't really make sense. There are unanswered question like why would the taio group want to build something underground and who is this taio group? How can they just force people to work underground like that?
FLAW TWO : The flow of the movie is slightly jagged and not really done well.
The movie began and ended as if it was comedy instead of a pyschological thriller. The scenes were a little awkward at first but got better in the middle.
However, the wonderful cast carried the movie so well that you completely DO NOT care about the flaws.
Everyone did a good job and they played their role well. Tatsuya Fujiwara really impressed me because I thought he would fail badly but he DID NOT. Instead, he was great. He's on his way to be a great actor.
Anyhow, I like the underlining themes of this movie. It's about the rich and the poor. Losers and winners. I like all that. I like how eventhough Kaiji is a useless loser but atleast he keep his promise. He's just a loser trying to start anew.
The camera work and the directing were good. Unfortunately the CGI wasn't so good and you can tell that it's a little fake. However, in this movie, it all doesn't matter. What matter is the human spirit to change and the perception of wealth.
A really good movie with great actors eventhough sometimes, they seem to be overacting but the movie needs it.
I heard that there's a sequel coming up soon and I look forward to it.
I rate this movie 4.2 out of 5
