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Kaiji: The Ultimate Gambler

Original title: Kaiji: Jinsei gyakuten gêmu
  • 2009
  • 2h 10m
IMDb RATING
6.4/10
2.2K
YOUR RATING
Kaiji: The Ultimate Gambler (2009)
Kaiji Ito (Fujiwara) moves to Japan after graduating from high school. Unable to find a job and frustrated with society at large, Kaiji spends his days gambling, vandalising cars, and drinking. Two years later and his life is no better. A debt collector named Endo arrives to collect payment. She then offers two choices to Kaiji: spend 10 years paying off his loan or board a gambling boat for one night to repay his debt and possibly make a whole lot more. Meanwhile, the unscrupulous Endo is actually conning Kaiji, believing he won't come back from his voyage. Kaiji is then up for the night of his lifeÂ…Â…
Play trailer1:10
1 Video
9 Photos
Drama

Kaiji, a young gambler who is constantly in debt, enters a deadly gambling competition in order to wipe away his loans.Kaiji, a young gambler who is constantly in debt, enters a deadly gambling competition in order to wipe away his loans.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
    • Mika Ohmori
  • Stars
    • Tatsuya Fujiwara
    • Yûki Amami
    • Tarô Yamamoto
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • IMDb RATING
    6.4/10
    2.2K
    YOUR RATING
    • Director
      • Tôya Satô
    • Writers
      • Nobuyuki Fukumoto
      • Mika Ohmori
    • Stars
      • Tatsuya Fujiwara
      • Yûki Amami
      • Tarô Yamamoto
    • 15User reviews
    • 19Critic reviews
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • Videos1

    Kaiji
    Trailer 1:10
    Kaiji

    Photos8

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    Top cast21

    Edit
    Tatsuya Fujiwara
    Tatsuya Fujiwara
    • Kaiji Itô
    Yûki Amami
    Yûki Amami
    • Rinko Endô
    Tarô Yamamoto
    Tarô Yamamoto
    • Jôji Funai
    Ken Mitsuishi
    • Kôji Ishida
    Yuriko Yoshitaka
    • Yasuda…
    Masako Motai
    Masako Motai
    • Houseboat Proprietress
    Ken'ichi Matsuyama
    Ken'ichi Matsuyama
    • Makoto Sahara
    Kei Satô
    Kei Satô
    • Kazutaka Okada
    Suzuki Matsuo
    • Tarô Ôtsuki
    Teruyuki Kagawa
    Teruyuki Kagawa
    • Yukio Tonegawa
    Takuma Anzai
    Takuma Anzai
    Bobby
    Nobuyuki Fukumoto
    Nobuyuki Fukumoto
    • Black Suit A
    Yasuhi Nakamura
    • Ôta
    Shogen
    Shogen
    • Majima
    Sôtarô
    Sôtarô
    • Kitami
    Hajime Taniguchi
    Sadayuki Tarumi
    • Director
      • Tôya Satô
    • Writers
      • Nobuyuki Fukumoto
      • Mika Ohmori
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

    User reviews15

    6.42.2K
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    10

    Featured reviews

    8anh-93010

    Worthy of over 7

    *The film is underrated.

    -The film is about poor people playing a game to change their lives. Those who fail will be brought to the ground as slaves.

    • The squid game movie takes a few ideas from this movie : People who need money to play the game, Game across the bridge , Game for balls instead of cards ,An old uncle is a teammate ,Get the main thing meet an old acquaintance ,....
    • The film is really emotional than "Squid game" . I don't know why the movie "squid game" is more appreciated than this movie.
    10christophersanchez-26752

    Cant find it

    Whate can I watch it I have been trying to watch it every where in sub English so can someone pleas help me find it english sub i heard its really good so I want to watch it I can only find it Japanes raw bud.
    6Thanos_Alfie

    The start of Kaiji...

    "Kaiji: The Ultimate Gambler" is a Drama movie in which we watch a young gambler participating on a deadly gambling competition in order to gain some money and wipe away his debts that constantly rise.

    I enjoyed this movie because it was interesting, it had a simple but nice plot and it also contained plenty of suspense and mystery. The direction which was made by Tôya Satô was very good and he succeeded on maintaining the tension high through the whole duration of the film while he presented very well both his main characters and the plot. In addition to this, the interpretation of Tatsuya Fujiwara who played as Kaiji Ito was very good and he made the difference. All in all, I have to say that "Kaiji: The Ultimate Gambler" is a great start of a trilogy and I highly recommend everyone to watch it.
    9jonny_

    Entertaining with plenty of twists.

    It's easy to criticise this film for being very over the top and downright outlandish, and that's because it is. It definitely has some overacting and very silly moments or dialogue, does it really hurt this film? No. The entire premise is over the top right off the bat, the film is about a guy playing a casino game (on a boat for some reason, maybe to bypass illegal gambling laws... who knows?) which is basically rock paper scissors to wipe out his debt and if he loses is doomed to pay it off through slave labour. I can't turn around and say "Aw man, they've managed to make this silly!" on top of that it's an adaptation from a manga, a good adaptation as you would expect from a cast reunited from the live action Death Note (that's right they actually had a good one before Netflix).

    This is a very entertaining film and with almost all films you know the hero is going to come out on top, this film is very good at baiting you into thinking he's found a way to basically cheat the system. I like the original idea that there is debt collectors who would victimize people to extort more from them including a sort of underground (ironically) mining operation that pays them a pittance then entices them to give it back in exchange for luxury items.
    gothic_a666

    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.

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    Related interests

    Mahershala Ali and Alex R. Hibbert in Moonlight (2016)
    Drama

    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      Nobuyuki Fukumoto, creator of the "Kaiji" manga on which this film is based, appears in the film as a black-suited man.
    • 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 like you... would never fail to notice this blood. Of course you'd notice. And when you do, you'd be suspicious. You'd scrutinize it, realize it's a scheme and see through my plan.

      [slams the card down on the table]

      Kaiji Ito: YOU HAVE TO, BECAUSE YOU'RE SMART! That's why you'd be suspicious, and would recall how I'd swapped cards on the ship, and that I had the chance here. Then you'd snicker... how foolish I am. You'd be completely convinced. And why not? After all, your opponent is trash compared to someone like you. TRASH! You'd gloat. Because you're superior. NO TRASH HAS EVER COME CLOSE TO BEATING YOU. SO I USED YOUR ARROGANT SUPERIORITY AGAINST YOU! AND THIS PATHETIC SLAVE BEAT YOU!

    • Crazy credits
      The Nippon Television Network Corporation logo is accompanied by a ghoulish chant of "zawa".
    • Connections
      Followed by Kaiji 2: The Ultimate Gambler (2011)
    • Soundtracks
      It's All Too Much
      Performed by Yui

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    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • October 10, 2009 (Japan)
    • Country of origin
      • Japan
    • Official site
      • Official site (Japan)
    • Language
      • Japanese
    • Also known as
      • Thần Bài Kaiji
    • Filming locations
      • Kiryu, Gunma, Japan
    • Production companies
      • Nippon Television Network (NTV)
      • Horipro
      • Toho
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

    Edit
    • Gross worldwide
      • $24,709,016
    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Tech specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      • 2h 10m(130 min)
    • Color
      • Color
    • Sound mix
      • Dolby Digital
    • Aspect ratio
      • 2.35 : 1

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