User Reviews

I read Rain Fall a few years ago immediately followed by the other 5 books in this series, then I started loaning and recommending them to everyone I know who likes this genre. Fantastic book series! So, of course I was interested in the movie. Interested with realistic expectations, after all, people who love novels will never be satisfied with movie adaptations.

First, what I think was good about this movie:

* They started at the beginning of series. No-brainer, right? Actually rarely does anyone do this; the Dennis Lehane books, the Tom Clancy books, etc, they all jump around and change actors and plot to accommodate the fact that they've screwed up the progression of the story. So, good for these guys for at least setting up the possibility of doing this right, if they see it through.

* Appears to be filmed in Japan, with Japanese actors speaking Japanese when appropriate and American/other actors speaking English when appropriate. Again, why wouldn't they do that? Because they might have sold more tickets to a wider US audience if they had not, but they did it right. I'm not convinced in the 2nd location, but that's okay, they did this right. THANK YOU!

Neutral:

The cinematography. It was cool and there were shots and lighting I enjoyed, but it was hard to watch at times, especially while reading subtitles. Might have gotten a little too cute with it in places.

What I didn't like:

* They screwed with the plot a bit too much. I know this almost has to happen with film adaptations, but it still stings because the plot of the book was so good. Taking the film plot on it's own merits, it was confusing and then a little too neat. I had trouble buying it and it didn't really hold up for me. I can't imagine that someone watching this without having read the book would have connected with it on plot beyond a superficial point.

* The worst thing about loving a book and then seeing on film is what happens to the characters. I know, you've got hundreds of pages to give us insight into someone in a book and little bits of film to do the same thing in a movie. I get it, but it's still sad. Barry Eisler's characters are remarkably compelling and I didn't latch onto anyone in this film. They all become composites and some get changed completely to help the plot along. But, even with Rain, I didn't get any sense of his emotions or motivations after the opening. You just can't have a stoic hero.

* I never really understood from the film who John Rain was, what he did, why he was involved with Midori. I know it made sense in the book, I felt it was really thin in the movie. Their relationship in the movie didn't work for me. Again, my memory is foggy, but I think they truncated a whole portion of how they met and how she initially came to know him that would have made it sensible.

* Holtzer character annoyed the crap out of me. I don't remember him doing so in the book. I know he was not likable in the book, but I don't recall him being a micro-managing, hot-headed rogue, corrupt power monger in Mr. Eisler's story. Again, I think it helped the movie plot along to have a villain, but it was a better story before. It always amazes me how complex CIA operations in movies are portrayed as unplanned, emotional improvisations. Not that I know first hand, but I don't buy it. I know that Mr. Eisler has some insight, but this isn't how I recall him writing it, so I feel like the screenwriter and director, screwed it up.

* Whereas the books sucked me in and kept me glued to the edge of my seat, the movie was hard to get through. You'd think it the other way around, right? Reading is boring, movies are exciting, right? Nope.

So, I don't want to bash it. It's an ambitious project. And I don't want to be one of those "the book was better" guys. We all agree that those people suck. I'm glad I saw it, they did some things right, maybe they can improve this series as they go, start with giving us better insight into the surviving characters. We really need that. Go easy on the comic book lighting effects, especially if you're going to have us reading subtitle (which I approve of). And please don't make future characters into composite sketches of typical movie devices.

Having read Eisler's entire Rain series, I had high hopes for Rain Fall, but the film garbled it pretty bad. I don't know if having read the book was an advantage in making sense of a disjointed plot, or a disadvantage because I already knew what was supposed to be going on but never quite seemed to be.

Despite good performances by (ever reliable) Gary Oldman as Holtzer, Akira Emoto as grizzled cop Tatsu & Takeshi Wakamatsu as offbeat Benny, this film is stylishly framed cinematic gibberish. Kippei Shiina, as Rain, never seems quite right, a proficient action figure, but not personally intriguing — tho this is probably down to the production rather than any fault of his. The scriptwriting, though credited — if that's the right word — to Max Mannix, seems like it was written by a committee who all had different concepts of the film & added & subtracted random bits according to momentary impulse, leaving it so muddled it's hard to judge to what extent Mannix's direction helped or hindered. The result is just a flawed action movie that could have been more.

Particularly egregious is the denouement in which Rain returns to New York. It's like they rushed us through the plot so quickly they ran out of storyline & had to resort to filler in order to — theoretically — give us our money's worth. So Rain pointlessly relives the childhood rooftop experience he's already related in detail to Midori. Then there's a series of flashbacks in which Midori & Rain separately but meltingly recall their moments together. Then he peeps in on one of her piano performances, but slips out before she can see him. Then he shows up across from her apartment & they spend a long damn time smiling at one other — Midori torn between joyous tears & laughter. The melodramatic tension (yawn) builds as you wonder whether or not they'll end up together, climaxing when a bus obscures Rain from Midori's sight. And then, when the bus pulls out, there he is, still there! How lovely, they're going to live happily ever after, right? Then he gives her his enigmatic smile, turns & walks away. Huh?

Finally — how's this for an anticlimactic cliffhanger? — Rain seeks out by name some specific tough guy in a very ambiguous biker bar full of nothing but tough guys. (Biker bar without mamas? Seriously hard core rough trade gay bar?) Portentously, Rain introduces himself &.... Roll credits. WTF? Like, who is this tough guy? Where does he fit in? Did I miss something here? (If I did, I'm certainly not gonna watch it again just to figure it out.) Or were they actually thinking sequel here, setting up Rain's next "thrilling" adventure? Even tho they've already killed off several viable characters who play a continued role in the book series? Even tho nobody I know who's seen this turkey would even for a moment consider sitting through another one? Downright delusional. Too bad. In the right hands, this could have been the first of a good series.

Gary Oldman is in this movie and it was released a year ago and has only 78 ratings and no review yet? Well I just watched it, had a pretty enjoyable experience, and felt it needed at least one review here. The script was written pretty well except for they writer must have gotten high and made an anticlimactic ending which turned what could have been an 8 star movie into a 6 star movie for me. I felt left wanting for some more action, but there were some enjoyable action sequences throughout which had nice choreography and the story kept me interested between action scenes to wonder what would happen next.

It seemed like another one of those high-tech spy-type movies at first, but then it changed pace and seemed to try to become a little less over the top than some of those others and tried to give itself more of a gritty dirty cop story, and finally descended into the darkness of a melodramatic doubly anticlimactic final 2 scenes. There were one or two loose plot threads, but not as many rampant loose ends as quite a few other pictures made in this country. Overall I enjoyed it for the most part. Great story and action that fizzled a bit at the end. I did think that the actors were all great. Direction had lots to do with it.

Half the movie they are speaking the English language, so don't be prejudiced against the other half just because it does have a few subtitles! The music was good at times, went with the mood nicely. I recommend that you watch it and enjoy a good time. Maybe worth another watch.