Kaiji: The Ultimate Gambler (2009)

Kaiji, a young gambler who is constantly in debt, enters a deadly gambling competition in order to wipe away his loans.

Director:

Tôya Satô

Writers:

Nobuyuki Fukumoto (manga), Mika Ohmori (screenplay)

Stars:

Tatsuya Fujiwara, Ken'ichi Matsuyama, Teruyuki Kagawa

Cast

Credited cast:
Tatsuya Fujiwara	...	Kaiji Ito
Ken'ichi Matsuyama	...	Makoto Sahara
Teruyuki Kagawa	...	Yukio Tonegawa
Tarô Yamamoto	...	Joji Funai
Takuma Anzai
Yûki Amami	...	Rinko Endo
Kei Satô	...	Kazutaka Okada
Yuriko Yoshitaka
Shogen	...	Majima
Shôhei Uno
Nobuyuki Fukumoto	...	Black Suit A
Ken Mitsuishi	...	Koji Ishida
Suzuki Matsuo	...	Taro Otsuki
Ryushin Tei
Sôtarô

Storyline

Kaiji Ito moves to Japan after graduating from high school. Unable to find a job and frustrated with society at large, Kaiji spends his days gambling, vandalizing cars, and drinking booze. Two years later and his life no better, a debt collector named Endo arrives to collect money. The debt collector then offers two choices to Kaiji: spend 10 year paying off your loan or board a gambling boat for one night to repay your debt and possibly make a whole lot more. Meanwhile, the unscrupulous Endo is actually conning Kaiji, believing he won't come back from voyage. Kaiji is then up for the night of his life.

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Plot Keywords:

live action remake of anime | sports | gambling | character name in title | 

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Taglines:

Life or death... on the turn of a card!

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Genres:

Drama

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Did You Know?

Trivia

Nobuyuki Fukumoto, creator of the "Kaiji" manga on which this film is based, appears in the film as a black-suited man.

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Quotes

Yukio Tonegawa: A Slave... why? Didn't you swap it before the blood sprayed on it?
Kaiji Ito: Sorry, but no. All I did was pull the face down Citizen and Slave cards close to me, then put a Citizen card over one, only to pull it back. In other words, I only pretended to swap.
Rinko Endo: He didn't swap them?
Yukio Tonegawa: Impossible! HOW COULD THIS BE POSSIBLE? WHY, WHY DIDN'T YOU SWAP THEM?
Kaiji Ito: That's easy. Because I had faith.
Yukio Tonegawa: Faith?
Kaiji Ito: Clearly, you're brilliant. Out of anyone I've ever met, you have the sharpest mind.
[holds up a blood-stained card]
Kaiji Ito: A man ...
[...]

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Crazy Credits

The Nippon Television Network Corporation logo is accompanied by a ghoulish chant of "zawa".

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Connections

Followed by Kaiji 2: The Ultimate Gambler (2011)

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Soundtracks

It's All Too Much
Performed by Yui

User Reviews

Too Rushed

The problem with this movie is that it has to compact the material of 13 volumes of manga into a 2 hour long movie. The very format forced some of 'Kaiji's strongest points to lose much of its impact, namely the gambling aspect of what is a very brainy and interesting manga. The movie cuts down on the mental gymnastics that make Kaiji able to beat the odds in a believable way. As a result the viewer cannot quite grasp his genius as everything is edited to the point of losing coherence. The manga is plotted in such a way as to cover several arcs, each with its own crazily high stakes and particular flavor. The movie cannot frame a transition of the moments of the narrative without coming undone at the seams.

Some choices in the adaptation were odd such as changing Endou's gender and changing the order of some events and there are other changes that may seem minor on the surface but end up diluting the tense do-or-die atmosphere that had readers of the manga flipping the pages anxiously and sitting at the edge of their seats. Such as the terrifying ear perforation device or the finger guillotine, both if which are completely absent in the movie.

Kaiji's inner dialog is hyped mostly as an emotional appeal without the counterbalancing effect of his quick mind. The manga's eponymous hero is known for bursting into tears rather often but he remains a very clever young man whose gambles have plenty of reasoning behind them, the movie shows us only flashes of this. It is also unfortunate that some of the more intense moments of the 'Kaiji' saga take place in material that is not covered by the movie.

The acting is solid, namely Fujiwara who plays Kaiji flawlessly, a completely different role of Death Note's Light that first introduced me to him. Having a woman playing a loan shark lends itself to romantic vibes but these never materialize.

Fans of the manga may enjoy seeing Kaiji in 3D but this movie does not match the brilliance of the original work.

Details

Official Sites:

Official site [Japan]

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Release Date:

10 October 2009 (Japan)

Also Known As:

Kaiji: The Ultimate Gambler

Filming Locations:

Kiryu, Gunma, Japan

Box Office

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$24,709,016

Company Credits

Production Co:

Nippon Television Network (NTV), Horipro, Toho Company

Technical Specs

Runtime:

130 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1