Kurosagi Movie
Since I was working this weekend and it was pretty slow, I watched the Kurosagi movie yesterday and today. Unfortunately, I was quite disappointed in it. The Japanese DVD just came up for preorder, but I think I'll wait for a Korean/Taiwanese/HK version, because they are usually much cheaper and might even include English subs, unlike the Japanese release (yes, i'm going to be buying it anyway).
I guess I should read Shakespeare's Julius Caesar to get all the references they were making on it. Some of it worked, but some didn't.
I thought the first 30 minutes or so were really boring, even though they did set up some angst that Kurosaki was trying to work out for the rest of the film. The story got more interesting when it moved to the swindling plot and how Kurosaki accomplished his goal. However, it all felt like it was just another drama episode that had been articially extended to last over two hours.
The Kurosagi/Katsuragi relationship was rather central, but I thought it a grave mistake by the scriptwriters on how peripheral Tsurara's role was in this film. I think she appeared at most 5-10 minutes in the entire movie :P. Considering how integral a plot point her and Kurosaki's UST and banter, and dancing around each other was in the drama, it's a definite surprise how underused she was in the film!
Even though I like Yamapi a lot, I just don't think he yet has the skills, the charisma, and the maturity to carry a film based just around him and this character. And make no mistake, this was entirely a Yamapi movie. He appeared in almost every scene that was shown, so he and his character were expected to carry to story which was mediocre at best.
A better script and a better director might have saved this, but alas, that didn't happen. Still, the ending of the movie was a clear setup for a possible sequel (film or drama), so maybe next time things will be a bit better...
I guess I should read Shakespeare's Julius Caesar to get all the references they were making on it. Some of it worked, but some didn't.
I thought the first 30 minutes or so were really boring, even though they did set up some angst that Kurosaki was trying to work out for the rest of the film. The story got more interesting when it moved to the swindling plot and how Kurosaki accomplished his goal. However, it all felt like it was just another drama episode that had been articially extended to last over two hours.
The Kurosagi/Katsuragi relationship was rather central, but I thought it a grave mistake by the scriptwriters on how peripheral Tsurara's role was in this film. I think she appeared at most 5-10 minutes in the entire movie :P. Considering how integral a plot point her and Kurosaki's UST and banter, and dancing around each other was in the drama, it's a definite surprise how underused she was in the film!
Even though I like Yamapi a lot, I just don't think he yet has the skills, the charisma, and the maturity to carry a film based just around him and this character. And make no mistake, this was entirely a Yamapi movie. He appeared in almost every scene that was shown, so he and his character were expected to carry to story which was mediocre at best.
A better script and a better director might have saved this, but alas, that didn't happen. Still, the ending of the movie was a clear setup for a possible sequel (film or drama), so maybe next time things will be a bit better...