A story about the underdog gaijin

Hi it’s been a while since my last post sorry for the late post and i hope there is still some readers out there.

So now i will discuss about one of the newest movie from Netflix, in recent years Netflix produced so many original movies i’ve watched one of their sci-fi movie which is What happened to Monday. It is pretty good, the story and the character are quiet interesting and unique and how the conflict shows the world problem nowadays makes it very realistic and catch the audiences concern. But let’s talk about The Outsider, this movie is directed by Martin Pieter Zandvliet i haven’t watch his works yet so i don’t know what to say about him but, what makes this movie is interesting to watch is the actor. The main character is played by Jared Leto, the winner for supporting actor back in the day of The Dallas Buyers Club. I was interested when i saw the trailer, it tells a story about Yakuza and Jared Leto is one of the actor besides there is another actor which is one of my favorite asian actor Tadanobu Asano. Blood and gunfight is what i seek from this movie, but is it really good? Does Netflix once again made a good movie? Let’s check it out!

The Main Story

courtesy of: http://writetoreel.com/the-outsider-good-netflix-yakuza-film

The story took place after the WWII, Nick Lowell (Jared Leto) is an American POW and being prisoned in one of Japan prison. Inside, Nick met with a lot of inmate but they are different they are Yakuza. One day, he helped one of the inmate who tried to hang himself. Apparently, the inmate he saved was just trying to get out from the prison because the protocol for suicidal attempt is to bring the victim to the hospital. Name of the inmate Nick saved is Kiyoshi (Tadanobu Asano), after that Nick helped Kiyoshi to get out from prison and in return he will provide a new life or a job for nick outside, their plan ran smoothly and the story begin from there. At first i really have no idea who nick is and what is he doing in Japan because i didn’t get any clue about the timeset for the story, i realized the story was taken in 1946-48 because i saw the vehicles and the surroundings are pretty different from today. From my observation, the story pretty similar with The Raid 2, a story about an unknown guy helped a powerful gang member and climb the ladder of success inside the organization.

Back to the story plot, i think this movie has a very simple story and unfortunately how they packed the conflict is really boring yet the character seems have no soul either. I knew there will be betrayal, scandal and other things but can they be more creative about it? for example one of the conflict is forbidden love story between Jake and Kiyoshi's little sister (Shiori Kutsuna), after Kiyoshi forbid Jake to date with his sister, Jake broke the promise and keep approaching her. When Kiyoshi found out about that surprisingly he let Jake with his sister and said, now his sister is Jake responsibility..what the f%$& was that, i mean i didn't complain about how the conflict is resolved but i am confused, how a Yakuza who supposed to be merciless, at least a strong standpoint let him did that without consequences??! Like i said It is very predictable story and it's applied to all the conflict, the audience maybe think about alternative resolve but no you don't have to even think to watch this movie.

In the first hour, i still haven't realized who the hell Jake is and what is he doing in Japan, but finally one character answers the question he is fellow American played by Emile Hirsch who discovered Jake's background, apparently Jake is an American Army well..i kinda think he is in army from how he disarmed the opponent and held the gun but hey..this is a movie, anyone could do anything. So for an hour, this movie will keep the audiences mind floating about who Jake is what is his background story, maybe they wanted to make it as a conflict which is true but, i think it isn't wise to put the explanation nearly in final hour of the movie. Next, i want to talk about the ending, well like i said it is pretty much predictable and even i have more realistic ending for this movie, the ending part just justified people's mind about this movie, another white supremacist movie!

The pacing is pretty slow, almost boring and not so many dialogue inside this movie the dialogue isn't worth or valuable that much.

The Character

courtesy of: https://www.thrillist.com/entertainment/nation/the-outsider-netflix-movie-review-jared-leto

The character in this movie is very dull. First of all the main character Nick, he seems inconsistent. Maybe he is a true psychopath or just ruthless but his action is very confusing because it seems he has some soft spot for example, he saved Kiyoshi's life even when he hasn't personally know Kiyoshi. Secondly, it is ridiculous when the audience discovered that Jake is an ex-army even he is a POW the character of a soldier can't be removed that easily. All of Jake's action is inconsistent and very confusing because we can't know the true character or personality of Jake. Kiyoshi's personality also make people scratch their heads because first, he is a Yakuza who supposed to be ruthless and merciless at least from common peoples perspective. The lack of relationship development between Jack and Kiyoshi is also one of the factor why it can't explain the soft personality that Kiyoshi has, if they showed the intimacy in Jake and Kiyoshi friendship maybe that problem can be understood by the audience.

The Technical

Courtesy of: https://www.thrillist.com/entertainment/nation/the-outsider-netflix-movie-review-jared-leto

From my perspective the style to deliver the story and the ambience and the color is much like John Wick. Mainly because how they show the introducing scene with the neon colors and font, there are several flaws in the technical issue. First it makes no sense when Jack, Kiyoshi and the boss of Shiromatsu Clan got shot at from outside the car. It shown that Nick protected the boss by ducking and Kiyoshi is in front of the car without protection, the enemy shot at them fiercely and i am pretty sure if it's in real life all of them won't survive from the shooting. But weirdly, Nick and the boss survived without a scratch, and Kiyoshi only hit in the neck with no damage on his body although Kiyoshi is dead eventually. The second thing is, the property and the atmosphere, didn't reflect the situation of the 1940's i almost believe that this story was taken in 2000's.

The Conclusion

The story isn't that interesting yet all of the elements inside the story also pretty weak. The characters are really dull and inconsistent it's one of the factor that responsible for making this movie pretty boring and soulless. All of the cinematography, the acting and the ambience are almost below average, it is something that can be fixed and improved but unfortunately the movie is out. But despite all that, it is still enjoyable to watch, it is just not a movie you want to watch more than once.