Yakuza x Scarface set in LA, 2000
Look i've watched my fair share of crime/kitano movies, with this amount of talent bustling through the making of this movie, I genuinley feel that they could've gotten better actors in on this.
On paper this sounds amazing, exiled yakuza flees to america and tries to make it in L. A. Yohji Yamamoto, Joe Hisaishi and Omar Epps working on the same movie! But with so much talent bustling throughout this project you would expect something a lot more memorable, something that makes you wanna watch it again, smomething more meaningful - a classic, but instead I get something not as interesting as it could be, so much could've been done with these idea's presented which inevitably had little to no pay off like if they gave us more time to be more attached to these characters the consequences would have been impactful the viewer would have actually felt the pain. Some of the acting was questionable, except for most of the Japanese actors, it didnt feel very real it didn't inspire much emotion, it seemed forced sometimes, the writing was boring so was the music both not as dynamic as the usual Kitano you know what I mean?
The cinematography and editing was good which is expected from Kitano, the story was middling at best still it felt like it was being carried by the few people who were passionate, the concept in my opinion was even better, maybe I had too many high expectations for this movie I dont know I just feel that this couldve been amazing if exectuted better, When you watch a Kitano movie you'll expect brotherhood, interesting visuals, creative cinematography, cold hearted bloodshed, memorable set pieces, dark/odd humor, strange scenes etc. Overall your getting a memorable movie stamped in your head, this was missing many of those elements the humor was soft inoffensive and safe, the bloodshed was tame and at times boring or weak, it felt like he was holding back with the visuals it wasn't as free as I'm used to, it was watered down Kitano at best, a mediocre crime movie at its worst.
All in all this seemed to be missing the Kitano touch, I feel if they had a bigger budget, better actors, a longer runtime and a more memorable story this would've been a masterpiece, it was missing most of what makes Kitano, Kitano. The aesthetic, editing, ending and cinematography was very good, some ideas were vintage Kitano, which was held back by the overall blandness of some of the actors and writing. If anything I can see this being remade in the future with a more meaningful story better actors and an overall memorable film, till then this movie is a shadow of what Kitano can do, a mediocre crime movie that reminds me of Scarface, I would recommend you watch Boiling Point, Sonatine or Outrage if you wanna watch a better Kitano film.
Look i've watched my fair share of crime/kitano movies, with this amount of talent bustling through the making of this movie, I genuinley feel that they could've gotten better actors in on this.
On paper this sounds amazing, exiled yakuza flees to america and tries to make it in L. A. Yohji Yamamoto, Joe Hisaishi and Omar Epps working on the same movie! But with so much talent bustling throughout this project you would expect something a lot more memorable, something that makes you wanna watch it again, smomething more meaningful - a classic, but instead I get something not as interesting as it could be, so much could've been done with these idea's presented which inevitably had little to no pay off like if they gave us more time to be more attached to these characters the consequences would have been impactful the viewer would have actually felt the pain. Some of the acting was questionable, except for most of the Japanese actors, it didnt feel very real it didn't inspire much emotion, it seemed forced sometimes, the writing was boring so was the music both not as dynamic as the usual Kitano you know what I mean?
The cinematography and editing was good which is expected from Kitano, the story was middling at best still it felt like it was being carried by the few people who were passionate, the concept in my opinion was even better, maybe I had too many high expectations for this movie I dont know I just feel that this couldve been amazing if exectuted better, When you watch a Kitano movie you'll expect brotherhood, interesting visuals, creative cinematography, cold hearted bloodshed, memorable set pieces, dark/odd humor, strange scenes etc. Overall your getting a memorable movie stamped in your head, this was missing many of those elements the humor was soft inoffensive and safe, the bloodshed was tame and at times boring or weak, it felt like he was holding back with the visuals it wasn't as free as I'm used to, it was watered down Kitano at best, a mediocre crime movie at its worst.
All in all this seemed to be missing the Kitano touch, I feel if they had a bigger budget, better actors, a longer runtime and a more memorable story this would've been a masterpiece, it was missing most of what makes Kitano, Kitano. The aesthetic, editing, ending and cinematography was very good, some ideas were vintage Kitano, which was held back by the overall blandness of some of the actors and writing. If anything I can see this being remade in the future with a more meaningful story better actors and an overall memorable film, till then this movie is a shadow of what Kitano can do, a mediocre crime movie that reminds me of Scarface, I would recommend you watch Boiling Point, Sonatine or Outrage if you wanna watch a better Kitano film.