Year: 2011
Plot: "Soon after having his debt cleared, Kaiji Ito is soon in debt again, and as is sent back underground. He earns the chance to return above ground for 2 weeks, he takes up the challenge of earning the 200,000,000 yen he needs to help his friends who are relying on him. To make the money he finds a new game to play, one that is once again set against him."
It's been over a year since I seen the first one, so I had to go back and look at my post for it. While watching this movie I really did remember a lot of the first one, but nothing about what I wrote in my review. Time has sure flown by it seems, but I guess movies have a habit of leaving major impressions on me.
In the second installment of Kaiji, the game has changed. Instead of playing different strategy games and facing death defying challenges, Kaiji is up against a pachinko machine. This may not seem like that big of a deal and on the simplest level, it probably wouldn't be much of a big deal. Factor in that the machines payout would be a little over 1 billion and the fact that the game is likely rigged, and the story line starts to get a boost.
I am not sure what it is about Kaiji, but these are the only movies involving gambling that I am genuinely nervous for the characters. I don't know how many times my hands were clenched while watching this. I think it might have a little something to do with the characters. Kaiji himself is really sweet and tries to always help everyone, even when he himself is in trouble. The pressure on him in this movie is even more intense because he not only has his own debt on his shoulders, but that of 20 or so men in the underground that are counting on him. This isn't enough for Kaiji though and he soon takes on even more charity cases.
I really don't think either Kaiji movie would have been so good to me if the character wasn't the way he is. Sure, many consider Tatsuya to be an over-actor, but it has seemed to work really well with the character of Kaiji. I just couldn't imagine him in any other way. He is dramatic, but I like the character that way. n.n
As with the first movie, I highly recommend this. Of course, the first one is probably necessary to get a feel for the characters as a few come from that one. If you don't care for the characters and what is happening to them, neither movie will probably be all that enjoyable. The thing is, that is the same with every movie, so you have to watch them for yourself to see if you will love the character and the movie.
Check out my review of Kaiji: The Ultimate Gambler!
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