Review of The Outsider (2018) by James R — 14 Apr 2018

This was a definite miss for me. The Outsider is the story of a ex-GI in post WWII Japan named Nick (Jared Leto) who while in an Osaka prison befriends a Yakuza member named Kiyoshi (Tadanobu Asano). Kiyoshi is almost killed by other gang members, but Nick saves him.

We learn later that Nick faked his death or something and ended up in this prison hiding away from being part of a court martial for desertion. The Yakuza take him in and after some brutal tests he becomes one miraculously.

Nick soon dives deeper and deeper into the Yakuza life style and even falls in love with Kiyoshi's sister Miyu (Shioli Kutsuna). Nick starts getting in over his head when it soon looks like Nicks new found family is going to war with another rival gang.

The movie is very slow paced. It sets things up, but I just never felt like the payoff was worth it. We don't learn too much about Nick and why he suddenly kind of just jumps at the chance of becoming a gangster.

A bit more back story explaining his past might have helped out because I didn't quite care what happened to Nick at all in the film. The violence here is pretty intense at times, but it doesn't do much to help the pace of the story.

It's also set in 1954, but man did it not feel like that time era to me. The film is ultimately about loyalty and betrayal. It never felt off for me about having a white guy in Japan it makes sense with the story, so don't believe all the negativity on this one.

The movie has a decent story arch, but has an uninteresting lead and a very slow pace with little to no pay off. Worth a look on Netflix if only this subject matter really interests ya.