Gonin Saga (2015)

[mpm74]

Gonin Saga (aka Gonin 3) follows an investigative reporter who meets the sons of the gangsters involved in the aftermath of the original heist. The film stars Masahiro Higashide (Crows Explode), Kenta Kiritani (Outrage Beyond), Anna Tsuchiya (Kamui Gaiden), Tasuku Emoto (A Story of Yonosuke) and Masanobu Ando (Battle Royale).

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[Takuma]

So, I saw this yesterday.

 

Let's put it this way. You know you're in trouble when the first 20 minutes of your movie consists predominantly of flashbacks to the original movie, flashbacks to what happened between the original and new movie, and even a flashback to a scene you saw at the beginning of the new movie.

And even then, you'll still struggle to understand the movie. I remember Third Window Film's Adam Torel described the storyline as "incomprehensible" and even the official Vancouver Int. Film Fest catalogue entry notes "you may not follow the plot’s twists and turns".

 

Worse yet, the cast consists mostly of pretty boys whose beard probably hasn't started to grow yet and look about as convincing with a gun as a fashion model (but of course, some of them are!).

Then, something unexpected happens. We're halfway into the film and a dynamic robbery scene finally comes. They get the money, but assassins are sent after them. All of a sudden the film starts to work. The lack of charisma doesn't matter anymore because now it's desperate fight for survival. We also get real actors like Shun Sugata and Naota Takenaka whom we can believe are dangerous.

 

The film finally concludes with the most violent and best made gunplay scene in Japanese cinema since Battle Royale. No CGI, no damn toy guns, no lame ass posing, just ultraviolent butchery, especially after one guy finds himself an Uzi.

 

So, yeah, I'm really torn with this film. The first 70 minutes sucks, the next 50 works, and the final 10 kicks ass.

 

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