for those who haven watched kaiji yet but are intending to, spoilers ahead! x.x
i was expecting it to be the story of a gambler, winning money in the casino or something in all the different types of games. but it turned out to be entirely different. it was only at the end of the movie that i realised the main point of the show was on japan's credit card debts.
kaiji was scammed into boarding a ship, a place where he was told he can change his life if he won. to be frank, i din expect him to be cheated by the other guy (cant even remember his name LOL) but that just shows how naive i was. good for him that in the end he found the other simple guy who cooperated with him. unfortunately for both of them, the other guy had one more card left which he overlooked and sadly this was to be a major turning point in both their lives.
to us, the audience, everything underground looked so clear. we wonder why the characters inside dun see it the same way we do. but try putting ourselves in the same postion, and i'm not sure that we wont do the same too. no wonder it was called the brave men's road cos it really required courage.
it required massive amount of luck and courage to finish walking across that bridge. a line in the movie really touched me "he fell down silently, (his name, i forgot), the coward, actually fell down without making a sound. he fell down without making a sound so that i wont panick". another guy, sahara-san. that one was just pure unlucky...and partly fate too that he wont make it. he finished walking across, only to fail at the last part...
i really wonder how he can still remain so calm after seeing 9 of his friends fall down one by one. the ways ppl always try to screw one another over...tells u alot about human nature. but then, there are also unexpected pleasant twists that make u think "hm, maybe we shouldnt end in 2012".
the final E-card game was exciting, though i was wondering all the while how he was going to make a come-back until the last round. it was so obvious that he did not change the cards, but only wanted to make the bad guy think so. do u seriously think he would have let u seen it if he really intended to swop the cards? =/ anyway, the one with the simple mind would win simply cos he did not bother to scheme and plot the other's downfall.
personally feel that the ending was lousy though, even though it fits in with the entire theme. HOW CAN THAT WOMAN DO THAT!! no wonder she's still single at 39 HAHAHA. :x
all in all, not what i expected but definitely not as bad as some of the reviews made it sound. xDDDD