Jared Leto Joins The Yakuza In New Netflix Movie The Outsider

[Ian Jane Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close Ian Jane]

This was originally to be directed by Takashi Miike and star Tom Hardy. Now it's Jared Leto directed by Martin Zandvliet who, to be fair, I don't really know anything about.

Tadanobu Asano and Rory Cochrane are also in this thing.

"An American soldier imprisoned in postwar Japan enters the dark world of the yakuza, adopting their way of life in repayment for his freedom."

[Alex K. Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Alex K.]

Might be a decent mob movie.

[Mark Tolch Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Mark Tolch]

I don't know what it is, but at some point, I just got really pissed off looking at Jared Leto. I'll try to give this a watch, anyway.

[paul h. woly boly Find all posts View Profile Close paul h.]

I don't know what it is, but at some point, I just got really pissed off looking at Jared Leto. I'll try to give this a watch, anyway.

So, it's not just me.

[Mark Tolch Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Mark Tolch]

Nossir. Haha

[The Silly Swede Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close The Silly Swede]

I don't know what it is, but at some point, I just got really pissed off looking at Jared Leto. I'll try to give this a watch, anyway.

Me Three!

[47lab Guest Find all posts View Profile Close 47lab]

That trailer looks terrible. I remember some of us had posted about movie when it was still in the works a few years ago and how it's based on the life story of Nick Zapetti, the subject of the Robert Whiting book, TOKYO UNDERWORLD. They should've done a straight autobiographical movie about him instead of this YAKUZA lite shit. Too bad Tom Hardy pulled out of this as he was probably the only saving grace because Leto is terrible with zero screen presence. Not too mention that physically he just doesn't look the part. He looks like a tweaker that is always hanging around my local gas station. Maybe Hardy saw the writing on the wall on how awful this movie was going to be and hedged his bets.

A far more interesting post-war story than this crap is the tale of Hisayuki Machii, a Yakuza with a Korean father who was nicknamed "fanso" (violent bull) for his ferocity as he was known to have knocked out several American GIs in bar room brawls. I wish Miike would've tackled this one instead of another white savior trope for netflix. i can totally see Ma Dong-suk playing Machii - now that's a movie I'd pay good money to watch.

[Darcy Parker Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Darcy Parker]

Leto should cut off a finger to atone for that shitty bastardized portrayal of The Joker in Suicide Squad.

[Mark Tolch Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Mark Tolch]

Well, Leto isn't the worst part of this, because they wisely decided to give him a very minimal amount of lines, and place him amongst some pretty solid Japanese actors.

THAT being said, the movie isn't good because of this. It's about 2 hours long, and it more or less just hits a Yakuza film checklist....guys in suits, check, cutting off fingers, check, an angry old head of a clan yelling about honour, check...there's not much else to this. It's a turf war Yakuza flick with not much attention paid to the turf war. Might have worked better as a series, who knows. But it's not worth watching in it's present form.

[Ian Jane Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close Ian Jane]

So basically it's a Yakuza movie for people who have never seen a Yakuza movie?

[Mark Tolch Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Mark Tolch]

That's exactly how I would describe it.

[Ian Jane Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close Ian Jane]

I bet my mom would like it.

[Mark Tolch Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Mark Tolch]

Christmas ideas

[Terry C Tiger Fists Find all posts View Profile Close Terry C]

Too bad Miike and Hardy didn't end up getting to do it. Everything I hear is that it's garbage, a bore, or just by the numbers.

[Takuma Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Takuma]

Saw this a enjoyed it a lot

The Outsider (USA, 2018) [Netflix] - 3.5/5
A highly entertaing twist to the usual yakuza film formula with Jared Leto as gaijin yakuza in 1950s Osaka and Kobe. The unusual protagonist adds a constant tension to a film that, with its depictions of Japanese yakuza, police and prison guards as corrupt animals... is otherwise just like any standard Japanese yakuza film! Indeed, there's is just a little bit too much familiarity to the ingredients as well as some tourist touring with one sumo, sauna or tattoo scene too much. The casting however is excellent (Kippei Shiina, Min Tanaka, Shun Sugata, Tadanobu Asano, Shioli Kutsuna) and the 50s milieu is nicely brought to life with good production values.

Obviously without its flaws, but to me some of the film's poor reception strikes as a mix of modern sensitivity (oh no, don't steal the poor Japanese their culture and trick their clueless actors into your film) and lack of knowledge of Japanese genre cinema. Of course you can criticize the film for clichés or being a movie for people who have never seen Fukasaku, Kitano or Miike films, but then, those are the genre's most unique filmmakers. The criticism is valid if you take this approach, yes, but you'd have to disown 95% of Japanese genre cinema, including a lot of movies by genre favorites like Sadao Nakajima, on the same basis and I don't see that happening.