Golden Kamuy

I don't know why the rating is so low. This movie was absolutely lit.

The lead : Immortal Sugimoto is cool (the actor has done a marvelous job: solid acting) . There were funny moments too. Tbh this movie has potential to compete against high budget hollywood action movies.

The storyline is nicely executed, direction is great and soundtrack is good.

I loved the blue eyed girl, she was sweet and fought well ( great at archery).

Basically, there is a hidden treasure and the map is drawn on bodies of convicts who escaped. Everyone wants to get the gold.

There are emotional scenes too, making the whole movie a wholesome experience. I would love to watch the 2nd part in cinemas ( it would be epic)

I have not read the manga or seen the anime series so this was my first experience. The pace of the movie was good and does not feel slow. It has the difficult task of introducing so many characters but by the end you end up understanding pretty much everyone's motivation for finding the gold. The acting was matured and spot-on and does not feel very cartoonish. I would have liked the action to be a bit more innovative, but for now it will do. Anna Yamada does a good job in portraying her character, who is still a bit naive to the outside world. Kento Yamazaki plays the ruffian protagonist to perfection, but also does a great job in where he has to some emotional depth. Yuma Yamoto's portrayal of the slightly crazy Shiraishi is great, and I would love to see some more depth in his character development in the later parts. But I think Hiroshi Tamaki steals the show as the deranged officer Tokushiro Tsurumi. You can see the menace in his eyes and expressions.

So, when a "movie" (notice the quotes) is introducing brand new characters with 30, 20, even 5 minutes left in the run-time, you know they never had any intention of telling a story. This was one big extended trailer for a future series of movies. Nothing ever gets accomplished. No injustice is rectified. No secret is revealed. Nothing.

It is simply a series of scenes where the two leads gather more and more acquaintances along the way.

This "movie" is like the team selection phase of a middle school gym class dodgeball game. All the hype and monologuing, with none of the actual gameplay.

Total false advertising calling this a "movie".

You first have to understand that this is an adaptation of a manga that's easily long enough to make 3-5 movies and which already has an anime adaptation that no doubt influenced the movie. So, yes, it's a bit of a live-action cartoon. Also, it's Japanese so don't expect Hollywood-level special effects but, even still, they did a pretty good job with the bears, Retarr, etc.

Most of the casting is great, costumes are on point, scenery is excellent. The scenes inside Abashiri prison look like they were probably shot on-location. It's a museum now, you can go there next time you're in Hokkaido (pick up a few bottles of Abashiri Prison Stout from the gift shop and thank me later).

I was worried that they'd try to condense the whole long story down to fit into movie length which would really ruin it. I'm very glad to see they haven't done that which means they're hoping to film a series of these. Hopefully they will but, if not, there's still the excellent anime series.

The Golden Kamui manga should make for an amazing quasi-western. It's got the frontier setting, with war vets seeking their fortunes, native peoples in the mix and swords and guns determining survival and justice. In other words, it has everything a great western needs.

Unfortunately the great story is wasted by terrible direction and an average style. Instead of a cool, stylized western, we get a run-of-the-mill, fit-for-tv drama. This isn't surprising considering the directors less-than-impressive library (a bunch of high-low movies). What's worse, the costumes look like bad cosplay. And the actors look straight out of the make-up room, too clean and pretty for their situations. The final product looks and feels so corny. Where's the grit? Where's the style?

Oh well. I'm going to go rewatch the old Abashiri prison movies to get this bad taste out of my mouth.