Like a Dragon Review: Is it worth the watch? (Yakuza 2007 film)

Ryu ga Gotoku is an action/adventure 
crime movie released in 2007,  
shortly after Ryu ga Gotoku 2. 
The translation to Ryu ga Gotoku  
is “Like a Dragon”, though in the 
West it is simply known as “Yakuza”.
In this video, I will be reviewing the 2007 film, 
which is rather infamous within the community. I  
will try to avoid any major plot spoilers 
to the Yakuza 1 and Yakuza Kiwami 1 games,  
as well as avoiding major movie spoilers, 
if you wish to watch it yourself.
I will begin with the pros of the film.
1. Majima-san
The film had a fair bit of Majima fanservice.
In the original Yakuza game for 
Playstation 2, Majima did not get  
as much screen-time as he has in following 
games, including the remake, Yakuza Kiwami.
Goro did take up quite a bit of 
time within the motion picture,  
as well as being a huge comedy relief.
There were quite a few scenes with 
him that actually had me chuckling.
They got his personality right, as well 
as keeping his honor and moral compass.
At one scene, he ordered his men to NOT 
harm Haruka during the fight with Kiryu.
Typical Maji-move.
Much like in the games, Goro is seen abusing his 
gang with his baseball bat on several accounts,  
as well as them keeping the 
character’s fascination with baseball.
I imagine if you have researched this film, you 
have heard many say that Goro was the best bit,  
and I am here to assure you 
that those

claims are not false.
Goro was definitely one of
the highlights of the movie.
2. Comedy
Something that this movie did not lack was comedy.
While it could have had more really
funny moments, I won’t complain.
Whether it was Majima-san being, well, Majima-san,
the doofus bank-robbers, or the relatable
Staminan X scene, it had it’s silly goofs.
It fit very well with the theme of Yakuza,
as the series is more of a dram-edy,
than a full on crime drama.
3. Fight Scenes
Personally, I loved the fight scenes in this.
They were, for the most part, well coordinated
and over-the-top, much like in the video games.
The blue and orange flames resembling
Heat Mode did seem a bit cheesy,
alongside the high-velocity baseballs.
But I kinda liked the quirky charm of it.
And now, the cons of the film.
1. Majima-san
Majima was undoubtedly one of the best bits
in the movie, however, there was a drawback.
The writers kept his personality, of
course, but the actor, Goro Kishitani,
failed to properly deliver
his signature mannerisms.
Majima in the games is extremely high energy and
animated with both his actions and tone of voice.
Kind of like a lunatic hamster on Red Bull.
While Kishitani’s portrayal of Majima seemed
kind of calm, relaxed, and just plain tired.
For example, in the games, Hidenari Ugaki puts
much more enthusiam and excitement when shouting,
“KIRYU-CHAAAAN~!”
Kishitani, on the other hand, just simply says,
“Kiryu-chaaaaaan.”
Quieter and with less oomph.
Most who critique Majima in this film put down his
attire and the eye-patch being on the wrong eye.
However, I did not have
much of an issue with this.
Perhaps Kishitani has
astigmatism in his right eye?
Hmmm?
As for the undershirt, I
have no problem with that.
In Japan, they are quite modest.
Revealing much skin around the torso
is not something they prefer to do.
That more than likely made him downright
uncomfortable, so that is understandable.
The jacket could have just been the
simple snake-skin print, though.
I suppose they were just trying to give him more
p i z z a z .
2. Issue with the characters
tying together the story
This is what bothered me most about the film.
In the movie, you of course had the
important characters like Kiryu,
Haruka, Majima, Date, Nishiki,
and more, however, many of the plot sensitive
characters were rather ignored in the story,
as they focused on movie-exclusive
characters, such as Yui and Satoru.
For example, Nishikiyama, I feel, was poorly done.
He had a couple mentions in the first 2 thirds of
the movie, but he made no appearance whatsoever
until the last quarter or so, where he simply
showed up on an escalator and then fought.
He got roughly around 5 minutes of screen-time.
Some other examples are Jingu and Yumi.
They are extremely important to the game’s
plot, and these two just felt rushed.
Jingu lacked a speaking role, and to be honest,
he lacked a motive, from what I gathered.
As for Yumi, they tried to explain
something that would take 20 minutes,
and boiled it down to 20 seconds.
By the end, after things were said and done,
her actions seemed completely meaningless
and her story made no sense whatsoever.
On another point, Kazama-san’s appearance
was pretty cool, coming from a Kazama fan.
But something that bothered me
was how he ended up in a place
he was not supposed to be by the end of this.
Those who have played, or at least know the
plot of Yakuza 1, will understand my point.
Date had a good character, much like in the
game, but they failed to tap into his story,
and instead used him as a bit of a plot device.
Instead of having The Florist, we got a
masochistic informant who ran an underground
weapons armory and information service
in the basement of the Beam DVD Store.
I feel that this movie would have been better if
they took out Yui, Satoru, and Park’s storylines
and put in Shinji and Reina to help pull the story
together, so that it could flow as it should have.
3. Choppiness
This movie was rather choppy in both
the story and the actual frames.
It jumped around a lot, for example,
when Kazuma appears with little
to no explanation aside from plot.
As for the frames, there were many
times that the scene would jump,
as if they were having to merge together multiple
takes for something that should only take one.
That was something that did bother me, however,
it was something I got use to about
halfway or so through the film.
-The verdict-
I do believe this film was lacking.
Takashi Miike, a Director who is known
for cult-classics and Yakuza crime films,
was the Director for it, and
I shutter to think what this
film could have been if he didn’t
have a role in it’s production.
This was made during a time before Kiwami, so I do
understand that the story would not be as strong,
but I feel like there were many things they
could have changed to make this work better.
It is a low-budget b-film.
I had very low expectations for
it when I decided to try it.
Did I hate it?
Actually, I did not.
I have seen movies I consider as worse, in my day.
I enjoyed watching it, and thought
it was pretty fun and silly.
The Story-telling was a far cry from
the game series’ way of spinning a tale.
If I were to rate it on a scale of 1
to 10, I would give it a 4 and a half.
A couple little fun extras before I finish this!
Did you know the film was shot
in Tokyo’s Kabukicho district,
in which is what Kamurocho is heavily based on?
On another note,
did you know Jingu’s actor was none other
than the series creator, Toshihiro Nagoshi?
It is a shame he didn’t
have any lines in the movie,
but at least we were spared
from another Jingu laugh…..
If you have not yet played Yakuza or Yakuza
Kiwami, and are thinking of watching it, my best
suggestion is to skip it until after playing or
watching the game’s story on YouTube or something.
There is a chance that this could
make you dislike the series,
alongside the sloppy story completely
spoiling the game’s version.
If you are already a fan of the series,
just keep your expectations low and
you shouldn’t be too disappointed.
Of course, this is just my opinion on it.
If you want to try the film out,
don’t let the words of a blogger,
critic, or Youtuber, or anyone stop you.
I know I sure didn’t.
More power to you, and I hope you enjoy it.
As always, have a blessed day, my fellow Weebs.
This has been Nishida, Fenn-chan’s
stand-in, unpaid Voice-Over.
We’ll see you next time.