Rating (1 out of 5 Stars)
OMG, I kept waiting for something to happen and it never did, in this Netflix original movie. How is Netflix making money developing these movies? The content is not something people would want.
This is a movie set in Japan in the 50’s after the war, and Jared Leto’s character is in a Japanese prison. He helps save another inmate, fast forward (and mind you nothing is fast in this movie), he joins the inmates gang (Yakuza).
He is finally accepted into the gang. The gang is on its last legs. Their patriarch is aging and another gang is moving in on their territory. There are tensions between members of the gang. Jared sleeps with his friends sisters, gets her pregnant, and blah blah blah.
I had to push myself to finish this movie. It was a struggle, and it all ends with him walking into the house and killing one of the gangs traitors. 2 hours to get to this result, just wasted time.
We never knew about people’s true motivations. If this was about honor, who was to learn it. Jared’s character seemed to float about in life, but definitely was comfortable with violence. No back drop, left us guessing.
What more can I say about a 1 star movie.
Often, as I am writing about a movie that I have reviewed, and I run out of things to say, I check other reviews. I was looking at what people had to say on IMDB, and well as I tell my son, your opinion is wrong. I have watched a lot of Asian films, including Japanese films. Japanese films I find explore the why of human actions and reveal a lot about the Japanese culture, but still tell a story where you care about the characters.
Jared Leto’s character was a prick, and we never understood why he did anything. Outside of showing some of the family traditions (like the initiation into the gang), this was a dull movie. Its okay to have a movie without action but then you have to explore the person behind it all.
Let’s take the classic, Ikiru, which is a 5 star movie for me. This is a 2 1/2 hour movie and is all talk. Ikiru shows a lot about the Japanese culture, but as an American Ikiru made me contemplate my life.
The Outsider can’t hold a candle to the movie and even to give it a relatively a similar score, just means the person on the side lacks perspective. This is not well made movie, so please don’t listen to the users reviews on IMDB.