LIAR GAME LIED
Today I just watched Liar Game: The Final Stage and I tell you that film is one-big-narm fest and other random stuff. As defined by TV Tropes, narm is "A Narm is a moment that is supposed to be serious, but due to either over-sappiness, poor execution, excessive melodrama, or the sheer absurdity of the situation, the drama is lost to the point of becoming unintentionally funny." The cinema was rolling around in laughter every damn time someone cries a literal "noooooooo~" or shrieks because they just lost money in the game - because the camera shakes in tune with the supposedly terribly dramatic moment... which completely loses its charm after like... 2384638942634 times of seeing it happen. And for the final stage of Liar Game no less, I have to say that it's terribly disappointing and I kinda regret having watched it.
Excuse me, before anyone rises to the defense of the show - I'm someone who only read the manga and didn't really bother with the drama except to look for Akiyama/Kanzaki moments. So forgive me if I start ranting on about how bad it is. Warning: POSSIBLE SPOILERS AHEAD, READ AT YOUR OWN RISK.
To put it simply, it was kinda like a more complicated/expensive version of the minority round in the earlier game. There was voting, time for deciding votes, putting together groups, even a dangerous traitor called X (am I ringing any bells here...?). Fukunaga becomes totally unlike his manga counterpart - something which I already knew because of the difficulty it is to look for an actress/actor who can play Fukunaga's unique situation properly - but what really got to me was that his character had totally derailed in the film. I didn't really realise it was this awful until I watched the film and saw Fukunaga prancing around being completely and utterly harmless instead of the dark, manipulative magnificent bitch that you'd love to hate because of her epic brains and I kinda died inside. Sigh.
And then there's Matsuda Shota's acting. Don't get me wrong - I love this guy - but him acting as Akiyama... I barely saw any change of expression. EVER. He looked like a male version of Bella from Twilight, standing there looking all emo-y, intelligent, and squinting throughout the film. And one part when he was chuckling at what another character said (prequel to "J00 ARE AN IDIOT"/"THIS IS THE LIAR GAME LOL" rant), the film showed the sound of him chuckling before showing that he was doing so and the cinema actually laughed at his chuckles. It sounded like a soft clicking sound and I am very sure that I am not the only one who was wondering where the sound came from and when it was revealed to be Akiyama, the whole cinema snorted simultaneously into their popcorn. And there was this scene where it was a total Out of Character moment for him.... but it was revealed to be a trick all along just made it all kinda... meh.
But I really like the subtle - well, not so subtle moments of AkiyamaxKanzaki. Early in the film, Kanzaki prances over to Akiyama and says he's the only one who hasn't voted yet when he stands up, leans in close to her and touches her lower lip with his finger. Kanzaki is all anxious and almost excited (with corresponding doki doki sound effects no less) that Akiyama is this close to her and staring at her lips when he opens his mouth to say...
"Lip gloss. I need some."
And Kanzaki fumes almost amusingly for a few seconds before lending him the aforementioned cosmetic product, which becomes a Chekhov's gun afterward. And then there's another squeee moment at the end of the film when Akiyama says:
"So will you be able to live with that? With all my lies?"
Kanzaki smiles and replies, "I guess so. Only if they're gentle enough and are able to make people happy."
Which means that she basically signed herself off to being lied to by Akiyama whenever he feels that it's convenient. And then they walk away together, which is very similar to the ending of the drama if you've watched it. However, that little moment and the fact that some small event gets nicely wrapped up in the credits - please stay for them because the song played is very cute and quite addictive - was still considered quite good for that excuse of a film. I saw that they were called Love and Lies and some other song by the band called capsule, which reminds me of some vocaloid band or something. But they're a certified electronic duo so yeah~
I had a sinking feeling that most of the people who came, came specifically to watch Matsuda Shota. However I have to say that from the point of a normal viewer, like Yuan (who forgot about reading the minority round and never watched the drama before), it's not too bad of a movie. It was completely unexpected for him - he said that he had no idea what was going to happen next. Neither did I actually, which was good for the film... but the fact that this was practically a rehash from the minority round (that I remember distinctively) kinda pissed me off somewhat, coupled with the countless, pretty much unrequired narm moments (see above) - they repeat everything and anything possible dramatic: Kanzaki opening her letterbox, for example - warrants at least three repeat shots with loud musical clashes and dramatic effects. Or when Kelbim (the guy in charge of this round) pulls off 50million in yen notes, the camera repeats this scene another three times with different angles, colours and dramatic music... Those just pissed me off endlessly. Sigh. After the first fifteen minutes of seeing this... you tend to get kinda bored and vaguely irritated at the film.
And some of their tricks... I remember going "ehhhh?!" in disbelief with the cast whenever Kanzaki or Akiyama explain their scheme, which is fairly often - just make me scratch my head. The thoughts processes and possibility of them even coming up with the ideas that they have mentioned... seemed almost impossible for one to come up with... even if you're the great Akiyama. And he gambled quite a bit in this round, taking chances and being quite unlike the magnificent brilliant bastard that you think he's supposed to be. They sometimes border on either Kanzaki or Akiyama being clairvoyant, and some even dance upon the line that separates genius from frankly, ridiculous ideas.
All in all, quite a big disappointment for me... the movie could have used the Pandemic Game or even the gunshot/thirteen-card poker game/Russian roulette revival round games and up those to a higher level but no... it chose to reuse another idea. Bloody disappointment.
Excuse me, before anyone rises to the defense of the show - I'm someone who only read the manga and didn't really bother with the drama except to look for Akiyama/Kanzaki moments. So forgive me if I start ranting on about how bad it is. Warning: POSSIBLE SPOILERS AHEAD, READ AT YOUR OWN RISK.
To put it simply, it was kinda like a more complicated/expensive version of the minority round in the earlier game. There was voting, time for deciding votes, putting together groups, even a dangerous traitor called X (am I ringing any bells here...?). Fukunaga becomes totally unlike his manga counterpart - something which I already knew because of the difficulty it is to look for an actress/actor who can play Fukunaga's unique situation properly - but what really got to me was that his character had totally derailed in the film. I didn't really realise it was this awful until I watched the film and saw Fukunaga prancing around being completely and utterly harmless instead of the dark, manipulative magnificent bitch that you'd love to hate because of her epic brains and I kinda died inside. Sigh.
And then there's Matsuda Shota's acting. Don't get me wrong - I love this guy - but him acting as Akiyama... I barely saw any change of expression. EVER. He looked like a male version of Bella from Twilight, standing there looking all emo-y, intelligent, and squinting throughout the film. And one part when he was chuckling at what another character said (prequel to "J00 ARE AN IDIOT"/"THIS IS THE LIAR GAME LOL" rant), the film showed the sound of him chuckling before showing that he was doing so and the cinema actually laughed at his chuckles. It sounded like a soft clicking sound and I am very sure that I am not the only one who was wondering where the sound came from and when it was revealed to be Akiyama, the whole cinema snorted simultaneously into their popcorn. And there was this scene where it was a total Out of Character moment for him.... but it was revealed to be a trick all along just made it all kinda... meh.
But I really like the subtle - well, not so subtle moments of AkiyamaxKanzaki. Early in the film, Kanzaki prances over to Akiyama and says he's the only one who hasn't voted yet when he stands up, leans in close to her and touches her lower lip with his finger. Kanzaki is all anxious and almost excited (with corresponding doki doki sound effects no less) that Akiyama is this close to her and staring at her lips when he opens his mouth to say...
"Lip gloss. I need some."
And Kanzaki fumes almost amusingly for a few seconds before lending him the aforementioned cosmetic product, which becomes a Chekhov's gun afterward. And then there's another squeee moment at the end of the film when Akiyama says:
"So will you be able to live with that? With all my lies?"
Kanzaki smiles and replies, "I guess so. Only if they're gentle enough and are able to make people happy."
Which means that she basically signed herself off to being lied to by Akiyama whenever he feels that it's convenient. And then they walk away together, which is very similar to the ending of the drama if you've watched it. However, that little moment and the fact that some small event gets nicely wrapped up in the credits - please stay for them because the song played is very cute and quite addictive - was still considered quite good for that excuse of a film. I saw that they were called Love and Lies and some other song by the band called capsule, which reminds me of some vocaloid band or something. But they're a certified electronic duo so yeah~
I had a sinking feeling that most of the people who came, came specifically to watch Matsuda Shota. However I have to say that from the point of a normal viewer, like Yuan (who forgot about reading the minority round and never watched the drama before), it's not too bad of a movie. It was completely unexpected for him - he said that he had no idea what was going to happen next. Neither did I actually, which was good for the film... but the fact that this was practically a rehash from the minority round (that I remember distinctively) kinda pissed me off somewhat, coupled with the countless, pretty much unrequired narm moments (see above) - they repeat everything and anything possible dramatic: Kanzaki opening her letterbox, for example - warrants at least three repeat shots with loud musical clashes and dramatic effects. Or when Kelbim (the guy in charge of this round) pulls off 50million in yen notes, the camera repeats this scene another three times with different angles, colours and dramatic music... Those just pissed me off endlessly. Sigh. After the first fifteen minutes of seeing this... you tend to get kinda bored and vaguely irritated at the film.
And some of their tricks... I remember going "ehhhh?!" in disbelief with the cast whenever Kanzaki or Akiyama explain their scheme, which is fairly often - just make me scratch my head. The thoughts processes and possibility of them even coming up with the ideas that they have mentioned... seemed almost impossible for one to come up with... even if you're the great Akiyama. And he gambled quite a bit in this round, taking chances and being quite unlike the magnificent brilliant bastard that you think he's supposed to be. They sometimes border on either Kanzaki or Akiyama being clairvoyant, and some even dance upon the line that separates genius from frankly, ridiculous ideas.
All in all, quite a big disappointment for me... the movie could have used the Pandemic Game or even the gunshot/thirteen-card poker game/Russian roulette revival round games and up those to a higher level but no... it chose to reuse another idea. Bloody disappointment.