Asian Film Review: "Kaiji 2" (カイジ, 2011)

I was fortunate enough to see an early screening of "Kaiji 2" a week before its official release in theaters in Japan.

The first Kaiji (which you may remember from such 7 out of 10 Etchy film reviews as this one)  was an 2009 adaptation of a Japanese manga starring Fujiwara Tetsuya, who you may recognize as the lead actor in the 'Death Note' films.   'Kaiji' is about a guy whose personal debts force him into a bizarre underworld where debtors are forced to compete in a series of life and death games against eachother for the amusement of rich people.  Losers are sent to work to death in an underground concentration camp and winners can get their financial freedom... but of course the house always wins.    

At the end of the first movie the title character wins his freedom through a harrowing series of deadly games. Despite being an unmotivated loser in the real world, when his back is against the wall he becomes a master strategist.  In the second film he's back in the underground labor camp but again manages to temporarily gamble his way to freedom.  He has a mission -- turn 1 million yen into 200 million yen within 14 days to buy the freedom of his camp mates.

As you can imagine, Kaiji ends up having to go back into the world of high stakes underground gambling again to do this,  ironically teaming up with the former corporate stooge he defeated in the first movie.  Unlike the previous film,  this installment doesn't have as many different intricate games.  The characters this time focus on a very Japanese form  of gambling -- Pachinko.  In this case a mega Pachinko machine from hell known as 'The Swamp' :

Taken from this pachinko otaku news article devoted to the film. As you can guess,  I enjoyed the first movie (although it is a bit twisted),  and it's great to see a second installment,  featuring almost the entire cast from the first movie (unfortunately no Yūki Amami (天海 祐希) though!).  

This sequel film though is quitelong... well over 2 hours.  If a film is really good it doesn't matter how long it is because you won't even notice.... unfortunately in Kaiji 2, after the 3rd or 4th sudden death reversal of fortune in a row, you start noticing that the movie is dragging a bit.   

Anyway, entertaining enough.  6/10.  Watch the first one first though.