Decent story ruined by overused cgi

Randomly came across this movie with a friend since the premise seemed interesting. I wasn’t aware of the manga/anime/Japanese live action until after watching the movie.

Acting: Li Yifeng is good with his facial expressions and he alone really carries this movie as most of the other cast really don’t get much depth or backstory. I just wish they gave his character clearer backstory as his “math genius” and his relationship to the loan shark was not made clear until halfway through the film. As for the other characters there is some cringe acting from the non Chinese acting roles that was hard to watch (minus the legend that is Michael Douglas).

Story: premise is simple game with high risk high stakes consequences if you lose being played by a genius but lazy school dropout with some mental issues who’s been backed into a corner. Main character development is done decently. Theres a good sense of pressure and the plot flows nicely -ish. And that’s a huge “ish” because this movie is riddled with over the top, unnecessary, disruptive cgi/action sequences. The movie can perfectly set intense anticipation with a simple Rock Paper Scissors game only to interrupt the pacing with a dramatic cgi sequence that immediately takes you out of the tone they’ve set so well. 80% of the cgi transitions do nothing to advance the plot, if anything they ruin any mood or emotional intensity that’s been set in many scenes. There are times where it’s used well but those are far and few as the cgi seems to be showcasing more what it can do more than how it can help propel the story.

Music: can’t say much about this, some cheesy badass rock and roll songs to go with the overused cgi

Rewatch: Meh, probably won’t rewatch. Will I watch the sequel, perhaps to see how the story continues as it did have some intrigue, just hope they edit and keep in mind the pacing.
One other gripe about the cgi, was it necessary to do all that contouring to Li Yifengs man boobs during his shirtless scene, looked very unnatural and really stood out in a bad way?????

Read More