Mjeteconer Just perfect...

Derry Herrera Not sure how, but this is easily one of the best movies all summer. Multiple levels of funny, never takes itself seriously, super colorful, and creative.

Kaydan Christian A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

Francene Odetta It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

dallasryan I thoroughly enjoyed this film until the last 30 minutes of it as it took a nose dive towards the end. The script became contrived and some of the characters were doing things that their characters wouldn't be doing, but the script was making them do it. Jared Leto plays a very interesting, quiet, calculating character in this one and it's a great performance in the same respects of the quiet, calculated mob characters such as Al Pacino's character in The Godfather, etc. An interesting movie, but it could have been great if the ending would have paid off. Sometimes it's all how you finish, not how you begin.

sheepskin404 Sometimes I don't understand how a movie can receive the rating it gets. At the time of this review, this movie has a 6.1. This is not a perfect movie but it is well worth watching, if you like these types of movies. The plot is simple enough. A White man is in jail for a reason we never find out about in post world war 2 Japan. He gets released sometime in the 1950's. He finds himself involved with organized crime and a turf war. We watch as this movie slowly unfolds and the plot further develops. The acting is superb. The directing, cinematography, special effects, music, are all excellent. I would highly recommend this movie to anyone who enjoys slow moving thrillers and a deep and complex story that slowly gets revealed in subtle ways. This is probably one of the best movies of the genre I have seen. It might not appeal to you but if it does, this one will stick with you.

kosmasp Just because a movie has a snails pace, does not mean it can not be brutal and violent in spades. We got one of those cases right here. It's about honor and loyalty. A major part of the movie is in Japanese (with subtitles of course), but our main character is an english speaking one. Which is the old "stranger comes into town" kind of thing.In this case his invasion into this culture that most westerners may not be that aware of, is really the driving force. He does learn fast, but he is also human, so he does have some urges and he has feelings too (even if sometimes you may think otherwise). Brutal, honest and without really taking compromises, this may feel too long for some, but will be a masterpiece for others.

nickrobertparadies I wanted to like this movie. Jared Leto has turned in a lot of great performances, and the Yakuza subject matter is not often seen in American cinema. Leto tried his best, but the movie just falls flat.Positives first. Leto's performance is pretty strong, and the film is mostly well shot. The dialogue scenes mostly stick to shot-reverse shot, but there are a few good wide shots of the cityscape and the Japanese countryside that look good. The story is engaging at least: Nick Lowell (Leto) is imprisoned in Japan during the American occupation, and later joins the Yakuza after helping out one of its members, with the film exploring his rise through the ranks.Other than that, though, there's not much else here. The rest of the cast is just average. The writing is honestly awful. Dialogue is half-assed in Japanese and English, scenes don't flow together, and it drags... oh man does this movie drag. The 10 minute opening scene feels like 20 minutes, and by the time you hit the hour mark the movie feels like it's been on all day. The editing is to blame here also. The movie is not paced well, and there are a ton of shots of people sitting, driving or walking for nonvisual storytelling that could be cut in half and still get their point across. The movie also looks ugly. It has a dark color palette, which you would think would work in a crime movie but here it doesn't because the lighting doesn't match the color tones. The movie is lit like a TV show. There are also some baffling creative choices that make no sense within the context of the film. Leto's love interest, for example, has an American accent when she speaks English, even though she's lived in Japan her whole life. Then a plot twist involving one of Nick's old army platoon members comes out of nowhere, and is dropped just as quickly.The movie really needed a page one rewrite to fix the dialogue and pacing issues, and with a better director and supporting actor who have the right feel for the movie's tone, it could have been a lot better (David Fincher and Ken Watanabe immediately came to my mind, but even a pair with half of their abilities could have improved this movie). It's definitely not the worst crime movie I've ever seen, but it's definitely one of the most dull and disappointing. I wouldn't recommend it except as background noise while you focus on something else.