Chaos
REVIEW (J-Movie)
What it is about
The movie started as a couple left a restaurant after lunch. The woman left as the man paid the bill. Afterwards, he too left the restaurant only to find that the woman was gone already. Somewhat unconcerned, he went back to work. We then found out that he was a CEO of a company. Later on that day, the CEO received a phone call claiming that his wife has been kidnapped. The kidnapper demanded 30 million yen ransom, or else...
It was then that the audiences found out that the kidnapping was staged. The woman was called Saori and was actually the wife of the CEO. She staged her own kidnapping because of various reasons. The kidnapper was a handyman. Saori planned everything, and the handyman was hired to execute the job.
Soon after Saori settled into her friend's place which doubled as a hideout, the handyman left and called the CEO's sister and demanded five million yen ransom. So instead of going to meet with the CEO who had the police with him, he snatched the five million yen from his sister who didn't have the cops with her.
After the successful 'transaction', the handyman went back to the apartment where Saori was 'held'. Panic ensued as he found that Saori was strangled to dead! One phone call from the killer later, the handyman quickly dumped the body and went back home.
The next day, he was sitting at the lights when a Saori look alike crossed the street. Who was her? Why was she alive? If Saori was alive, then who was dead?
What I think of it
While this movie is not the first one to feature a staged kidnapping, this is also not the first one to have some dead corpses lying around, waiting to be buried. The stage kidnapping is really a gimme, the audience can tell pretty much straight away.
There are several twists in this movie, the first one being the stage kidnapping. However, the real meat of the plot twist begins as the kidnapping turned into murder, and the handyman was framed for it. It is then that the handyman embarked on a journey to find out who is behind the murder.
The plot is executed as smooth as it could be, and is able to keep the viewers entertained for the most part. It took a while to stage the kidnapping, at the halfway mark, Saori is dead. By the three-quarter mark, the true murderer and the intent are revealed. And after that, it is payback time.
The plot actually moves backwards in time on several occasions, and could be a little hard to follow if the viewers don't watch it carefully.
Music is done by Kawai Kenji, the master behind Ring, Ring 2, and anime like Ghost in the Shell and the Patlabor series.
The characters are simple, there is the CEO, the wife and the handyman. The wife's real love interest is really murky at times, sometimes she seems to love the CEO, but sometimes, she seems to be in the arms of the handyman.
A problem that I have is the way the handyman was portrayed. He is a handyman, he can fix broken pipes, TVs, and whatnots, but I highly doubt that he can stage a kidnapping. He seems to know a lot about the art, as if he had done it many times before. It's not everyday that someone called a handyman and asked to be kidnapped, you know.
Overall
This movie actually reminded me of another similar movie, G@me. G@me, in my opinion, is better executed than this.
This movie, when you know the whole thing, is actually quite simple. The twists are not easily predictable, but not unexpected. For the first half of it, you have to really pay attention to the plot to work out the story, but even if you don't, all will be revealed later on.
The characters are somewhat unbelievable, especially the "know-all" handyman, but overall, they are okay and drives the story to its ultimate conclusion.
Score (out of 10)
Music: 8
Setting: 6
Character: 6
Plot: 7
Overall: 6
What it is about
The movie started as a couple left a restaurant after lunch. The woman left as the man paid the bill. Afterwards, he too left the restaurant only to find that the woman was gone already. Somewhat unconcerned, he went back to work. We then found out that he was a CEO of a company. Later on that day, the CEO received a phone call claiming that his wife has been kidnapped. The kidnapper demanded 30 million yen ransom, or else...
It was then that the audiences found out that the kidnapping was staged. The woman was called Saori and was actually the wife of the CEO. She staged her own kidnapping because of various reasons. The kidnapper was a handyman. Saori planned everything, and the handyman was hired to execute the job.
Soon after Saori settled into her friend's place which doubled as a hideout, the handyman left and called the CEO's sister and demanded five million yen ransom. So instead of going to meet with the CEO who had the police with him, he snatched the five million yen from his sister who didn't have the cops with her.
After the successful 'transaction', the handyman went back to the apartment where Saori was 'held'. Panic ensued as he found that Saori was strangled to dead! One phone call from the killer later, the handyman quickly dumped the body and went back home.
The next day, he was sitting at the lights when a Saori look alike crossed the street. Who was her? Why was she alive? If Saori was alive, then who was dead?
What I think of it
While this movie is not the first one to feature a staged kidnapping, this is also not the first one to have some dead corpses lying around, waiting to be buried. The stage kidnapping is really a gimme, the audience can tell pretty much straight away.
There are several twists in this movie, the first one being the stage kidnapping. However, the real meat of the plot twist begins as the kidnapping turned into murder, and the handyman was framed for it. It is then that the handyman embarked on a journey to find out who is behind the murder.
The plot is executed as smooth as it could be, and is able to keep the viewers entertained for the most part. It took a while to stage the kidnapping, at the halfway mark, Saori is dead. By the three-quarter mark, the true murderer and the intent are revealed. And after that, it is payback time.
The plot actually moves backwards in time on several occasions, and could be a little hard to follow if the viewers don't watch it carefully.
Music is done by Kawai Kenji, the master behind Ring, Ring 2, and anime like Ghost in the Shell and the Patlabor series.
The characters are simple, there is the CEO, the wife and the handyman. The wife's real love interest is really murky at times, sometimes she seems to love the CEO, but sometimes, she seems to be in the arms of the handyman.
A problem that I have is the way the handyman was portrayed. He is a handyman, he can fix broken pipes, TVs, and whatnots, but I highly doubt that he can stage a kidnapping. He seems to know a lot about the art, as if he had done it many times before. It's not everyday that someone called a handyman and asked to be kidnapped, you know.
Overall
This movie actually reminded me of another similar movie, G@me. G@me, in my opinion, is better executed than this.
This movie, when you know the whole thing, is actually quite simple. The twists are not easily predictable, but not unexpected. For the first half of it, you have to really pay attention to the plot to work out the story, but even if you don't, all will be revealed later on.
The characters are somewhat unbelievable, especially the "know-all" handyman, but overall, they are okay and drives the story to its ultimate conclusion.
Score (out of 10)
Music: 8
Setting: 6
Character: 6
Plot: 7
Overall: 6
posted by Chocobahn at
7:08 pm
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