- Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
- ASIN: B000059PSA
- Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #687,514 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
7 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD|Amazon Verified Purchase
Easily in my top 10 list of all time favorite movies. Along the lines of Reservoir Dogs, there is a team of 5 (Gonin translates to "5 People") who steal a grip of money from a yakuza office at gunpoint. Although they get away, the yakuza find out who did it and hire a hitman to try and kill them all, Beat Takeshi.
Beat Takeshi is one of my favorites and have seen most of his movies after the Beats, never seen a Beat yet. He is kind of like Japan's DeNero, and he made this film work. My favorite line out of the movie is where Beat shots a few rounds from his .38 missing his target, and hitting some other people, chases the mark and fires his 6th round again missing, hands the gun to his partner and says "Dame da, kono teppo" (this gun is useless) as if it couldn't be his aim (the subtitle says "It's useless" losing the meaning to think they are just giving up chasing him). Another classic Takeshi scene is where he goes out into the pouring rain to shoot 2 of the 5 wearing just some house slippers and holding an umbrela too small to cover himself. TRIVIA: The patch on Takeshi's eye is real, recieved during an accident causing permanant damage.
There are times when this movie dips a little heavy into the artistry aspect of movie making, and only a few times, so it seems like the director made some mistakes, but he was just trying to cause a certain mood, which he does effectively. This is a very violent movie, and quite disturbing for even hardened action movie watchers, but if you are in the market for a good story and better fimography, this is one to keep.
Beat Takeshi is one of my favorites and have seen most of his movies after the Beats, never seen a Beat yet. He is kind of like Japan's DeNero, and he made this film work. My favorite line out of the movie is where Beat shots a few rounds from his .38 missing his target, and hitting some other people, chases the mark and fires his 6th round again missing, hands the gun to his partner and says "Dame da, kono teppo" (this gun is useless) as if it couldn't be his aim (the subtitle says "It's useless" losing the meaning to think they are just giving up chasing him). Another classic Takeshi scene is where he goes out into the pouring rain to shoot 2 of the 5 wearing just some house slippers and holding an umbrela too small to cover himself. TRIVIA: The patch on Takeshi's eye is real, recieved during an accident causing permanant damage.
There are times when this movie dips a little heavy into the artistry aspect of movie making, and only a few times, so it seems like the director made some mistakes, but he was just trying to cause a certain mood, which he does effectively. This is a very violent movie, and quite disturbing for even hardened action movie watchers, but if you are in the market for a good story and better fimography, this is one to keep.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
This is a remarkable and unique Japanese anit-Yakuza movie. An old story really (are there any new stories) about 5 desperate men who decide to rob the local Yakuza to solve their personal-financial problems and subsequently suffer the consequences. Told in a flashy, neon lit visual style and shot in semi darkness on slimy urban streets, there is no breathing room in this exciting thriller, no quiet time for reflection or contemplation, it's flat out action start to finish. Wow. It moves with the relentless momentum of classical tragedy and once the ball is rolling we just have to wait and witness the carnage and inevitable outcome. The violence is graphic and effective on a personal level. Filled with actors who are familiar from the Japanese cinema, the legendary Beat Takeshi has a supporting but pivitol role as an assassin involved in a brutal sado-masochistic relationship with his assassin-partner dispatched to off the tragic heroes (the five of the title). You've never seen Beat Takeshi like this before. Written and directed by Takashi Ishii, the man responsible for the script of Evil Dead Trap, this movie is mature, complex and effective on a human level in ways that Evil Dead Trap is not. Check it out, you won't be disappointed. This is a unique take on a familiar story as we follow the lives of five men, trapped in lives of not so quiet desperation. Tragic and passionate, this is a movie you won't soon forget. The white subtitles of this Hong Kong import are less than perfect and the truncated, shorthand translation leaves much to be desired. Even so, check it out.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
An odd and unusual film to say the least... But a good one nonetheless. Some people will likely be turned off by this film due to the violence, and the surreal & gloomy feel which rarely lets up. I happen to like that sort of thing, so it worked out pretty well for me. This film actually reminded me a lot of David Lynch's Mulholland Drive (vise versa actually), with their great film noir like feel. Reading some of the other reviews, I saw that a few people said they were turned off by the 'homoerotic nature' of the film. The movie has a few 'not-so-straight' (Amazon won't let me use the G-word :) characters (including Takeshi, who is excellent!), but it's nothing I would label as 'homoerotic'. I'm as straight as they get and the film didn't bother me any... It's nothing anyone hasn't seen before in Pulp Fiction or The Crying Game. Anyway, Gonin is a great film which I do recommend... Though some of you may want to rent it first :).
Most Recent Customer Reviews
This IS REALLY GAY!!
This movie is perfect for all you bisexual guys out there. If you get turned on by homerotic films, this is for you. But me, like most people am not bisexual. Read more
Published on November 5, 2002 by Chris M Bennet
A talented director gone bad
Gonin is a homoerotic picture masquerading as a heist film. The heist means very little in the scope of the picture, since director Ishii seems preoccupied with homoerotic themes,... Read more
Published on February 9, 2002 by www.nixflix.com
Even a talented director has flaws
When I first saw this movie on TV - and the movie seemed to be heavily cut - I only thougth that Takashi Ishii is really a director with talent and the ability to create something... Read more
Published on November 22, 2001 by ShadowWarrior
Even a talented director has flaws too
When I first saw this movie on TV - and the movie seemed to be heavily cut - I only thougth that Takashi Ishii is really a director with talent and the ability to create something... Read more
Published on November 21, 2001 by ShadowWarrior
A talented director has flaws too.
When I first saw this movie on TV - and the movie seemed to be heavily cut - I only thougth that Takashi Ishii is really a director with talent and the ability to create something... Read more
Published on November 21, 2001 by ShadowWarrior
One of the MOST CYNICAL thrillers ever made
...And that could be a good thing, depending on your taste. Honestly, I have seldom seen a film which takes such a desolate and mean take on its characters. Read more
Published on June 10, 2001
Interesting, but hopelessly brutal film.
I viewed the Japanese print of this DVD. It is a good film of it's type (Japan's long-running Yakuza genre; analogous to the US Gangster/Mafia genre). Read more
Published on March 10, 2001 by "sirpsycho78"
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