- For the franchise itself, see Like a Dragon.
- For the 2020 video game, see Yakuza: Like a Dragon.
- For the movie's prologue, see Like a Dragon: Prologue.
Ryu Ga Gotoku Gekijoban (龍が如く 劇場版, Ryū ga Gotoku Gekijōban, lit. "Like a Dragon Movie Version") is a 2007 Japanese crime film directed by Takashi MiikeWP. It is based on the events of the video game Yakuza.
The English subtitled version premiered on June 23, 2008 at the New York Asian Film Festival '08, and was released on DVD on February 23, 2010 by a Media Blasters affiliate.
Cast[]
The film stars the following:
- Kazuki Kitamura (北村 一輝) as Kazuma Kiryu (桐生 一馬)
- Natsuo (夏緒) as Haruka Sawamura (澤村 遥)
- Goro Kishitani (岸谷 五朗) as Goro Majima (真島 吾朗)
- Shun Shioya (塩谷 瞬) as Satoru (悟)
- Saeko (サエコ) as Yui (唯)
- Haruhiko Kato (加藤 晴彦) as Kazuki (一輝)
- Saki Takaoka (高岡 早紀) as Yumi Sawamura (澤村 由美) / Mizuki Sawamura (美月)
- Show Aikawa (哀川 翔) as detective Noguchi (野口 刑事)
- Gong Yoo (공유) as Park Chul the Korean hitman (朴)
- Yutaka Matsushige (松重 豊) as Makoto Date (伊達 真)
- Claude Maki (真木 蔵人) as Akira Nishikiyama (錦山 彰)
- Yoshiyoshi Arakawa (荒川 良々) as the Korean-Japanese weapon smuggler (武器屋)
- Kenichi Endō (遠藤 憲一) as Imanishi the bank robber (今井)
- Sansei Shiomi (塩見 三省) as Shintaro Kazama (風間 新太郎)
- Tomorowo Taguchi (田口 トモロヲ) as the Korean-Japanese barbershop owner
- Toshihiro Nagoshi (名越 稔洋) as Jingu but listed as Mister N (ミスターN)
- Alexander Otsuka as a Yakuza (ヤクザ)
Plot[]
The plot is loosely based on the original Yakuza game and is a "one-night-story" that unfolds in a hot summer night in Kamurocho, the fictitious version of Kabukichō.
The night begins with a bank robbery by a manzai duo of amateur masked gunmen, Imanishi and Nakanishi, and the disappearance of ten billion yen from the Tojo Clan's deposits. Meanwhile, in Kamurocho's streets, former yakuza Kazuma Kiryu and a young girl named Haruka Sawamura search for Mizuki Sawamura, Haruka's supposed mother, with Kiryu's rival, psychotic yakuza Goro Majima, and his gang on their trail.
After a meeting with Kiryu in a convenience store, Poppo employee Satoru and his new girlfriend Yui decide to start holding up stores for money. Elsewhere in the district a mysterious South Korean hitman, Park, tracks down the culprit behind the Tojo Clan heist which leads him toward the infamous Mister N and the Millennium Tower.
The search for Mizuki brings Kiryu to the top of the Millennium Tower and ends with a climatic battle with his childhood friend, yakuza Akira Nishikiyama, whom became an enemy.
Trivia[]
- Toshihiro Nagoshi, the creator of the Yakuza series, plays the role of Mister N (Himself).
- Majima's eye patch is over his right eye in this film, contrary to all of his other appearances where it is over his left. This is because his actor, Goro Kishitani, has problems with his right eye, meaning he wouldn't have been able to see if the eyepatch covered his left eye. Thus they switch its position.
- Kazuma Kiryu's actor, Kazuki Kitamura, was born on July 17, 1969, exactly 1 year and 1 month after the character he portrays.
- Two of the actors featured in the movie would later play a role in the main series games as well. Kenichi Endō (遠藤 憲一) as Junji Sugiuchi (杉内 順次) in Yakuza 4 and Show Aikawa (哀川 翔) as Koichi Takasugi (高杉 浩一) in Yakuza 5.
Gallery[]
