Year: 2009
Plot: “Kaiji spends his days gambling, vandalizing cars, and drinking booze, a debt collector named Endo arrives to collect money. The debt collector then offers two choices to Kaiji: spend 10 year paying off your loan or board a gambling boat for one night to repay your debt & possibly make a whole lot more.”
I decided I simply had to watch this movie because both Tatsuya Fujiwara and Ken'ichi Matsuyama are in this. Both, of course, also star together in Death Note as Light and L. Now even though I simply watched this for the two stars, I actually enjoyed this movie for other points.
I saw on one site that someone didn’t like the fact that pretty much only a few parts actually have anything to do with gambling. I would certainly have to disagree with their point. Gambling isn’t just about an actual game such as cards for money. You can gamble at anything with money, or simply with your life. Not everything has to be an actual game. This movie starts with a game and ends with one. Though the middle part isn’t a game in a normal sense of gambling, it is still a gamble.
I really enjoyed this movie because of the characters. I absolutely loved the fact that Kaiji was seemingly nothing more than garbage to those who saw themselves as superior. The only problem is that they failed to realize what true worth is. Kaiji may have been penniless, but he was a good person. He had the chance of breaking free but choose to stay with a man he was trying to help. Not only that but that same man didn’t care about his own prosperity but that of his daughter in the end. I also have to say that I love the strategies that are used in this movie. I especially loved the final round of E-Card.
The person who had an issue with the seemingly lack of gambling also mentioned over acting as being a problem. This didn’t really bother me. They happened to mention the beer scene as a major problem. This didn’t seem like over acting to me though. I mean living the life he was, I think I might have acted the same way getting something ice-cold. I do have to say though that sometimes the acting does seem a bit much, but because the storyline is so interesting it isn’t too much of a problem with me.
I would have to say that this is one I would recommend. There might be some points that aren’t great, but the movie as a whole is really good. I feel that I have to add this one to my collection as it goes quite well alongside Death Note. I couldn’t tell you how dedicated they were to the original manga when they made this movie, but it was good for someone who has never read the manga, or previously heard of it.
Check out my review of Kaiji 2: Jinsei dakkai gemu!
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