Like a Dragon (2007)

Cult Japanese director Takashi Miike draws inspiration from the popular Playstation 2 title Yakuza for this unhinged tale of underworld violence in Tokyo starring Goro Kishitani and Kazuki ... See full summary »

Director:

Takashi Miike

Writers:

Masashi Sogo, Seiji Togawa

Stars:

Kazuki Kitamura, Gorô Kishitani, Shun Shioya

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Kazuki Kitamura	...	Kazuma Kiryu
Gorô Kishitani	...	Goro Majima
Shun Shioya	...	Satoru
Saeko	...	Yui
Haruhiko Katô	...	Kazuki
Saki Takaoka	...	Yumi Sawamura / Mizuki Sawamura
Shô Aikawa	...	Noguchi
Yoo Gong	...	Park
Yutaka Matsushige	...	Makoto Date
Claude Maki	...	Akira Nishikiyama
Yoshiyoshi Arakawa	...	Gun Seller
Ken'ichi Endô	...	Imanishi
Sansei Shiomi	...	Shintaro Kazama
Tomorô Taguchi	...	Barber Owner
Toshihiro Nagoshi	...	Jingu / Mister N

Storyline

Cult Japanese director Takashi Miike draws inspiration from the popular Playstation 2 title Yakuza for this unhinged tale of underworld violence in Tokyo starring Goro Kishitani and Kazuki Kitamura. It's summertime in Tokyo, and as the temperature rises, two undercover cops stake out a high-profile bank robbery while complaining about the air conditioning. When the masked gunmen make their way into the vault only to find that the Tojo gang's ten-million-yen deposit has mysteriously vanished, an already complicated situation gradually starts to spiral out of control. Meanwhile, in another part of town, psychotic yakuza Goro Majima (Kishitani) strikes out on his own to pay a visit to rival gang leader Kazuma Kiryu (Kitamura) and track down the missing mother of adorable youngster Haruka (Natsuo). It seems that Haruka's mother has some valuable information, and Majima is determined to find her at any cost. Now, as Majima makes his way through the neon-lit streets of Tokyo, Satoru (Shun ...

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Plot Keywords:

yakuza | release from prison | baseball bat | based on video game | based on game | 

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Genres:

Action | Crime | Drama

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Did You Know?

Connections

Spun-off from Yakuza (2005)

User Reviews

Faithful Adaptation... With A Twist

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!

Details

Official Sites:

Toei [Japan]

Country:

Japan South Korea

Language:

Japanese Korean

Release Date:

23 February 2010 (USA)

Also Known As:

Yakuza: Like a Dragon

Box Office

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$5,215,613

Company Credits

Production Co:

Art Port, CJ Entertainment, Sega

Technical Specs

Runtime:

110 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1