Rage (2016) User Reviews

One of the most engaging powerful Japanese Films

[pinokiyo · 8/10 · 11 May 2017]

Not to be confused with the Nicolas Cage film with the same movie title, "Rage" follows 3 different story/relationship, each involving 3 main characters within the group, where one of them may end up being the suspect. Of course it involves rage, but also mistrust.

There really aren't that many powerful Japanese films that keep you engaged from start to finish. However, this is one of those rare interesting/powerful films that is definitely worth checking out. It does make you want to keep watching to see how it's going to end and who the suspected killer is that's on the loose.

The film does not hold back at all covering many controversial subjects like homosexuality/gay club prostitution, rape, Okinawa/US Soldier problem. These are actual real-life issues.

This film is definitely not something you watch with your entire family; it will definitely make you feel uncomfortable.

There is nudity and some extremely depressing uncomfortable scenes that is almost too graphic and realistic. I could not help it but cry and REALLY feel for the character, the impact was so big; it will leave you with rage too.

I think the beginning of the film was more powerful than the climax. The climactic scene maybe could have been better... Nevertheless, it is a film that stays with you even days later.

Excellent all-star casting. Aoi Miyazaki really fits the clumsy air-headed prostitute daughter of Ken Watanabe. Satoshi Tsumabuki really put himself out there playing a gay character in the closet. Suzu Hirose, super cute and recently popular actress, playing the girl from Okinawa was quite powerful.

Powerful performances and great music to go with the film.

It is definitely a movie I would put on my top list of Japanese films. Sang-il Lee is definitely also one of the best directors in Japan.

Worth watching!

Riveting and disturbing Japanese mystery/drama

[Red-Barracuda · 8/10 · 1 July 2017]

This Japanese mystery/drama is made up of three concurrent stories centring on enigmatic strangers who enter the orbits of trusting individuals from different Japanese cities, while a grim double-murder investigation plays out in the background. In Chiba, an ex sex worker forms a relationship with a taciturn young man whom her father is wary of, a confident gay man begins a relationship with a quiet and mysterious man he met in a seedy joint in downtown Tokyo and a young lady newly arrived in Okinawa befriends a drifter who lives alone on a nearby island.

I must say that I found this film to be pretty riveting from start to finish. The detective strand of the story takes a bit of a back-seat while the three main plot strands propel forwards. But the whodunit aspect remains extremely compelling and I was gripped to the end. The various stories all play off feelings of trust/mistrust in regard to how the trio of strangers are perceived and treated by the people they come into contact with. The acting by the ensemble cast is very strong throughout and the different dramas all have a strong dramatic punch to them. The film is pleasingly unpredictable and it really is difficult working out how it is going to play out, which is of course a big bonus for a mystery movie, but while the ending was satisfying it might have been slightly less than the journey getting there. This is a fairly minor complaint as this as a whole is a very strong bit of Japanese cinema. Be warned though, there is one extremely harrowing scene mid-way through the picture which was hell of a difficult to watch and very emotionally tough indeed. A couple of folks at the screening I attended walked out at this point in actual fact, I won't say any more as its best to go into this with no prior knowledge as it is a key scene. So, it is a film which is definitely tough in places. It is a very impressive bit of work though, with strong dramatics underpinned by a compelling mystery framework and it is well worth seeing if you can take films with disturbing content.

Goes for your lowest and highest feelings

[afshari-ali · 8/10 · 16 September 2016]

Great Movie (be aware of some scenes might be very disturbing) that does not hold back any punches. You will be angry, sad, happy and disturbed.

Amazing acting, the movie will keep you guessing and questioning yourself. Its a detective movie and multiple love story at the same time. Movie takes place in 3 different Japanese cities with beautiful cinematography. As you sit on the edge of your seat you wonder about the different scenarios that someone faces in life and how you would react to it.

Truly enjoyable, a movie that you need to dedicate your time to it to understand it. Love it..

A suspenseful film with deep emotions

[Gordon-11 · 21 November 2016]

This film begins with a gruesome murder scene, where a man and a woman are found dead in their home. The police traces who the killer is by thumbprints, and the killer's photo is all over the news. Three fugitives' lives, who look like the killer in the photo, are told in the film.

I bought the cinema ticket without knowing what the film was about. And wow, I was blown away by it. I did not expect the story to be so gripping and engaging. Though there are a lot of characters, they are all properly introduced, so that there is no confusion as to who is who. The identity of the killer is kept a secret throughout until the very end, which makes the film suspenseful. I am also positively surprised by the major subplot of two homosexual characters, with a few explicit scenes that I do not normally associate with Japanese films. Furthermore, emotions are very well portrayed in the film, including love, trust, mistrust and very heavy guilt. There are so many heartbreaking scenes that exposes the characters' hurt and deep sadness, making "Ikari" a film to watch and feel. I enjoyed the experience thoroughly.

Letting people in

[omni_rein · 6/10 · 13 June 2020]

Three stories interweaved to capture the degrees of trust and it's consequences amongst us.

It was smart to keep similarities among the suspects or else the focus of the audience will slowly drift having to bear the movie length. Rage was felt, given and passed on every involved character. It reminds me of how we impulsively invite and dismiss people in our lives.

True Identities

[siddhesh-karanjai · 8/10 · 28 May 2020]

Even without the vices of lust for money, hate, envy, human beings can be such miserable creatures. This is a heart wrenching drama set in beautiful locations and beautifully acted.

It's a take on the psyche of simple people, when faced with adversity, sometime even not directed at them. It's about love, rage, helplessness, faith, trust and beliefs and how sometimes they get the better of us.

Films like Se7en, Crash come to mind in terms of the effect it leaves behind. And like those films probably I wont muster the desire to watch it again, but I am glad I saw it.

the movie errs on the side of being mawkish and blasé

[lasttimeisaw · 7/10 · 14 June 2017]

RAGE is the second attempt of Lee Sang-il, a Japanese filmmaker of Korean extraction, at adapting Shûichi Yoshida's popular novels, the first being VILLAIN (2010), a critical succès d'estime, both films ostensibly inspect the malaise of a contemporary society built upon a lurid murder case.

A couple is cold-bloodedly liquidated in their home, one year later, three strands (taking place in Chiba, Tokyo, and Okinawa respectively) of narratives are cogently intersected when the police corroborate that the suspect has undergone a facelift and is on the lam, all three story lines will be boiled down to a disintegration between the initially unsuspected and the possible perpetrator, and at the same time, the film meticulously keeps dangling audience with its ever-rotating guessing game.

In Chiba, a girl Aiko (Miyazaki) sloughed from a demimonde background by her father Yohei (Watanabe), strikes a relationship with Tetsuya (Matsuyama), a reticent young man with his past concealed; in Tokyo, a self-dependent gay man Yuma (Tsumabuki), lays his eyes on a reedy Naoto (Ayano) in his usual cruising haunt, after their first penetration, Yuma invites a homeless Naoto to live with him, but the latter remains unforthcoming to a fault; in Okinawa, drifter Shingo Tanaka (Moriyama) is hidden on a small island, after chancing upon a newly-arrived young girl Izumi (Hirose) and a local boy Tatsuya (Sakumoto), their fate will go through shifting sands when an unfortunate tragedy occurs.

Thus, Lee plies audience with 3 candidates of the murderer: Tetsuya, Naoto and Shingo, and cunningly teases viewers with alternate possibilities by dint of coalescing these three's attributes into one photoshopped end product (only one revealing shot in the elevator brazenly belies the eventually misled whodunit), actually, the film is not so much a police procedural as a carefully designed weepie gauging the tenuous degree of trust among human interactions, at least in the paralleled stories of Chiba and Tokyo, the issue of trusting the one you love in spite of his carapace hammers home in a treacly manner albeit two terrific performances from Miyazaki and Tsumabuki, the former blends convincingly her unadulterated immaturity with searing vulnerability whereas the latter, palpably inputs something warm, sympathetic and enthralling to flesh out a character very easily teetering on the brink of homosexual platitude. On the other hand, a transcendent Moriyama steals the limelight in the Okinawa chapter, where the film thrusts its "rage" mythos to the fore and reveals something rotten entrenched within (a slap to both islanders and foreigners), but newcomer Takara Sakumoto is unfortunate shy of charisma to match his rival here.

As a matter of fact, acting is the movie's strongest suit because the script itself takes liberty with many wanton coincidences and artistic license to facilitate plot progress, for example, is it really necessary to bluntly play up certain characters' taciturnity as if this is the only way to keep audience hooked without spilling the beans? Also, for my money, the movie errs on the side of being mawkish and blasé, other than taking its aim at a more rapier-like appraisal of its intriguing premise (cause of the crime), Lee's film is awash with sizzling emotions (cheek by jowl with Ryuichi Sakamoto's attendant score) but in the end of the day, it doesn't reach the echelon of superiority as far as the ultimate impact is concerned.

Come for the plot; Stay for the mystery

[Elijah_T · 10/10 · 29 April 2019]

This is a movie about story telling. Looking back at it, that's what I enjoyed the most.

While the main three characters may not be interesting per se, their newfound strangers were the catalyst that altered their daily lives, gave them a balance of sorts, and, in the case of their friends and family, even carried the plot at times.

Rage did a great job of keeping me tense from trying to figure out who the killer was. It just kept me guessing, wondering, and worried that the characters I grew attached to were in serious danger.

It has a great transition scene in the beginning. So greatly surprising that I won't even spoil it. There is another scene that uses a typical sound to emphasize the tensity. Overall, it has well done shots and music.

Warning: This is not a comfortable movie. It gets into adult matters unapologetically.

Well-acted but ending weakens film

[KoalaBear33 · 7/10 · 16 September 2016]

Saw this film at TIFF (Toronto International Film Festival) yesterday. It is a somewhat lengthy Japanese film (2+ hrs) with strong acting and interesting storyline. Most films covering similar topics--unsolved crime, mysterious loner, young lovers, homosexual relationship--would have ended up clichéd and boring after an hour but this film definitely kept me interested throughout.

Unfortunately, I feel the ending weakens the film. The way the crime details were revealed at the end seemed rushed and wasn't as imaginative as the rest of film. Overall, a good film worth watching if you are looking for a foreign film with crime drama plot.

Touching movie with great acting

[mister_bateman · 7/10 · 22 April 2020]

It's a very emotional movie which touches on a few rather uncomfortable, unpleasant and tragic real life subjects. The acting is really good. Unfortunately the plot writing is a bit of a weak point. It's not very creative or believable. Also, some of the protagonists' reactions to the events taking place don't make much sense in terms of realism and only seem to serve for increasing dramatic effect.

About "Trust"

[hkling-19994 · 7/10 · 24 August 2020]

Trust is an eternal topic of debate. Kotaro Isaka's "Golden Dreamland" tells a story about using "trust" as a weapon, and this story tells you that one cannot trust another person forever. The acting skills of the actors are really amazing! The movie clip is slightly messy.

about feelings

[Hombredelfuturo · 5/10 · 3 January 2019]

...start with too much blood and a crime but this movie is not a thriller; is about the relationships and the feelings. Normally people suppose things about the other; sometimes are correct but mostly do not. The plot has some errors to settle in couple of turns in the story but again, this is not the main goal of this movie. The acting here is pretty consistent and demonstrate that with a tight budget you can make it possible.

Rage and mistrust

[harry_tk_yung · 29 November 2016]

There are three separate stories linked by a gruesome murder. One of the three projects rage, but the other two examine trust and mistrust, particularly the trail of love in the face of doubt.

The murder is not premeditated. A normal couple is found stabbed to death in their home by a total stranger and the suspect's identity is quickly established as a man with sporadic outbreaks of psychopathic fits. Scrawled on the wall in blood, threatening to jump out of the movie screen, is the word RAGE.

While the photo of the man is used in a nation-wide manhunt, it is believed that he has undergone plastic surgery which clouds the certainty of his recognition. A year later, three mysterious men turn up in three different parts of the country. The movie is structured in quick cuts (no pun intended) from one short scene to another in narration of these three stories.

Tashiro, a taciturn young man, appears in a fishing village where he works part time for a fisherman Yohei (Ken Watanabe), who has just brought home his spoilt teenage daughter Aiko (Aoi Miyazaki), runaway to experience the life of a sex "escort". Aiko soon falls in love with Tashiro. The father's resistance softens as Tashiro finally tells them his story: he is running away and hiding from gangsters who killed his father. They now haunt him for repayment of his father's debts. Just as it looks as if Tashiro has found shelter from a stormy life, a computer-reconstructed picture of what the murder suspect may look like after the plastic surgery is distributed nationwide, with incriminating resemblance to him. Father and daughter find their trust in this young man quickly eroding.

Naoto, another taciturn young man, appears in a gay district in Tokyo where he encounters a happy-go-lucky middle class man Yuma (Satoshi Tsumabuki). Relationship between the two men deepens as Naoto moves in with Yuma. Their mutual affection is further strengthened when Yuma's hospital-bound invalid mother grows fond of Naoto, before she dies. The first spark of doubt arises when Yuma spots Naoto in a café with an attractive young woman. Then, as the composite picture of the murder suspect is exposed, it has the same effect on Yuma as it has on the father and daughter.

Tanaka, a travelling backpacking loner, is not a taciturn young man. He is mature and outgoing, making a temporary home for himself in the ruins of a deserted island belonging to Okinawa. He works on and off at construction sites. A young girl Izumi (Zuzu Hirose) and her adolescent boyfriend Tatsuya bump into Tanaka when they explore the island and befriend him. Their relationship is the most casual of the three stories, until something traumatic happens and change them forever.

While the plot obviously anchors on guess-the-murderer, the meat of the movie is in depicting the gloomy reality of frustration, mistrust and anger that plagues the country. There is also the feeling of helplessness, which can arguably be seen as the emotion that primarily fuels the rage. I'll leave it at that, as further elaboration means treading a tad too close to spoiler zone.

The cast is "dream team" calibre to the Japanese moviegoers. Ken Watanabe is likely the Japanese actor that is best known to the global audience, most notably with his appearance in "Inception". Aoi Miyazaki I have seen in "Nana" (2005) but I understand that she has since appeared in numerous popular films that I have not seen. Satoshi Tsumabuki is a familiar face and I remember him best in "The Kiyosu Conference". Suzu Hirose is unforgettable from "Our little sister" (2015)as the little sister who became the darling of her three step-sisters. The others in this ensemble cast have equally impressive credentials.

Pathetic, Over Dramatic, Sappy, Overblown, Ridiculous Pointless Cryfest

[redrobin62-321-207311 · 1/10 · 7 August 2020]

I was originally going to rate this film with two stars for the gorgeous cinematography alone, but these days, any 4K camera pointed in the right direction is going to a stellar picture. "Rage" started off in the right direction, then it was all downhill from there. I'm not even sure what the movie thought it was - crime thriller? Soap opera? Mystery? Love story? It was all these and none of these. They really went out of their way to create nearly 2 1/2 hours of intriguing cinema, but all that was left was a torture fest worse than any low or no budget film. Definitely not recommended.

Good editing, but also bad editing

[jnoa2991 · 29 July 2020]

Three stories intergrate with each other very clever and smooth. But overall the film is still a bit long, you can easily cut 30 minutes from it without missing anything.

The gay relationship seems underdeveloped and doesn't make any sense. A homeless homosexual who has heart disease, lives in a gay house and then he is raped by a rich office man. After that he moves in with the guy and doesnt want to talk much. Then his partner grew suspicious of him, so he leaves and died???

The father - daughter story is weird too. The dad obviously doesnt know how to raise his daughter, she can do whatever the hell she want: become a prostitute, marry a strange boy with no family, move out and live with him, doesnt do anything except bento... leave out the murder suspect part this story is just dull and over dramatic.

Last is the teen love story, which is full of symbolic meanings. What happened is very true, and combine with how the story progress make me think alot. It depicts what the title means accurately. But again, still stretch out a bit much.

Overrated Mystery?

[aa5if · 2/10 · 22 August 2021]

I am huge fan of murder-mystery movies and shows but I also look for acting in the movie and overall storyline. Ikari (Rage) started great and kept audience hooked to the seats for first 30 minutes but after that it was just downhill. I am not sure what this movie was all about and how it ended. People rating it high might be because of acting which is great -no doubt in that. But stretching movie to 2 and 1/2 hours was like torturing audience.