Yakuza: Like a Dragon (2007)

This movie is the proof that the world is becoming a sick and dumb place

It's funny watching the elements come together in this complicated scam. On one hand, the set-up isn't quite as complex as it seems, but there's an easy sense of fun in every exchange.

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

Takashi Miike's loose adaptation of the PS2 game "Yakuza" is definitely an odd duck. It defies most formula conventions and delivers a uniquely Miike experience. Reminiscent of City of Lost Souls before it and Crows Zero after it, Like A Dragon has as many laughs as it does bullets. Combining bombastic action with a violent sense of humor, the film almost seems to want you to hate it, but it's hard not to like what amounts to be one of the most twisted action comedies in recent memory. A gangster fresh out of jail, his bat-wielding and bugnuts crazy arch-nemesis, a lost little girl, two Bonnie and Clyde posers, a pair of idiot bank-robbers, a mysterious Korean hit-man and plenty of other characters inhabit one hot night in a fictional district of Tokyo with two missing women and ten billion yen at stake. If you're expecting a deathly serious action fest, you had better look elsewhere. Relying on vicious physical gags and some truly inspired comic timing, Miike mixes in dynamic camera-work with colorful imagery to continuously rebel against traditional action conventions. This is definitely not one of Miike's most profound works, but it is certainly one of his most undeniably fun.

The movie thats based on the game "Yakuza" (part 1).The movie is rather entertaining with its visuals and pacing. There are comedy elements as well as action which are done quite well.The only downside of the movie if you are not familiar with the game are the characters that seem to randomly pop up. Unless you have played the game, these characters seem like excess pieces. No character development, no idea who they are or whats their purpose. It makes things rather confusing. The plot also seems to have no meaning especially the ending.To those that are familiar with the game, the movie will seem to be lacking in depth- characters and story. But I guess condensing at 15hour game into 2hours isn't easy. The thing is, the movie is good enough to be a stand alone movie and I thing Miike may have erred in trying to make too much like the 1st Yakuza game.Good movie, it kept my attention throughout. However it does feel shallow, disjointed and disappointing (the ending).

I just read in another review for the movie, that this is based on the (somewhat) popular game "Yakuza" (a third installment of which is supposed to come out this year for the two next generation consoles). Since I haven't played the game, I can't tell you how accurate this adaptation is.If you're a Miike fan, than you don't need my review for an opinion. But if this is about to be your first Miike movie or you haven't heard of him, let me tell you, that his "style" (cheap and fast, that's why he makes quite a few movies every year) aren't everyones taste. They are somewhat original though and have many weird/strange ideas thrown into the mix. This is not different here and the movie is quite enjoyable in an almost sick kind of way. Not for the squeamish ... but then again, which Miike movie is for a sensible audience? Exactly!

Miike has proved to be one of the most versatile and reliably inventive directors of the last decade. He is no longer merely Japanese; his movies reach an ever-growing audience in Europe, America and elsewhere. Capably of churning out several films a year (owing to his background in the B-cinema of straight-to-video yakuza action variety), even the best of Miike's films have a sense of fleetingness - not to say hurriedness - to them. That is because, for Miike, more is more. Frugality be damned. The film under review is NOT one of his most polished works, but it is smooth and shiny, and thoroughly entertaining from start to finish. And a faithful adaptation to boot.You see, with "Like A Dragon", the celebrated but wacky director enters the world of video game screen adaptations, translating Sega's Playstation 2 hit game "Yakuza" into cinematic terms. But Tomb Raider or Doom this is not. For one, "Yakuza" (which I've played and enjoyed) had a much superior storyline to most other games out there. Thrilling and dark, the story of the game gets adapted, with seeming ease, into Miike-speak. How did they condense a 15-hour storyline into a 100-minute movie? Not perfectly, but satisfactorily. A few jumps and omissions bespeak the origins of the story, but overall the story holds.The reason for this easy transition is clear: The world of the yakuza, petty criminals, cops and street urchins is right in well-tested Miike territory. After dozens of films that deal with the underworld of Japan, the veteran director knows his stuff. A yakuza game + a yakuza director is a marriage made in (some perverted) heaven. Visually, too, this film captures the atmosphere and locale of the game. The colour spectrum of both the outdoors shots and the indoor sets is pleasing to the eye, and almost every shot is beautiful to look at. Especially in a few indoors shots there is poetry to violence.Mixing humour (as Miike does) with violence and tragedy, the film never loses its edge. Miike captures both the serious and comic side of the thugs and social rejects in the film. Many of the characters in the game, especially the young girl, Haruka, and the delinquent teenage lovers are really likable and you really feel for their fates.The storyline may leave those who haven't played the game hanging (just who-what-where?), but it isn't necessary to play the game to appreciate the movie. They both stand on their own.Lucky for Miike to have such good source material, and lucky for Sega to be able to attach one of the great directors of today in a project that otherwise would have been doomed to mediocrity. Salvaged by style and visual richness, "Like A Dragon" is an above-average Miike film with enough twists and turns to make you feel like game-to-movie adaptations ARE possible after all. Uwe Boll and Paul W.S. Anderson - take notes and learn!