The Outsider

I felt like watching something by the Danish director Nicolas Winding Refn. The only difference being that Ryan Gosling has been exchanged for Jared Leto. Otherwise, it’s a feast for the eyes inspired by Japanese gangster traditions. Unfortunately, the visuals overshadowed the story, so it’s really boring at times. But you have to be prepared for that with similar movies. (14.05.2020)

I find this kind of movie somehow calming. Slow exposition, gradual revelation of the rules of the Yakuza and Leto as an emotionally damaged soldier who gets out of jail for a good deed. The action is bloody and more perfunctory than visually impressive. Takeshi is better than this, but this is decent work for an American movie. (29.06.2018)

Netflix is still waiting in vain for its Citizen Kane. Very much in vain. (11.03.2018)

This is a good film. It’s gritty, violent, and unscrupulous, but I can't help it, because overall I found it rather empty. Jared Leto is classically demonic here - all he has to do is look, but somehow this time that's not enough, because the story, which is more of a traditional one, doesn't connect with him and focuses more on blood and violence than on the plot itself. (03.04.2018)