Just perfect...

Fresh and Exciting

Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

I loved this movie from the start. Is there going to be a part II or ...? I am obsessed.

WOW! This is NOT my normal fare, let me tell you. Normally I would cross to the other side of the 'street' rather than watch many of Takashi Miike's films. BUT... I had indeed kind of braced myself for a bit of a cartoony gore-fest, although that is NOT my first choice in films. But, this premise was SO damn WAAAAAAAAY OUT there, that I just had to check it out.Man, I truly do not know where to start... I am still kind of reeling a bit from the film, which I JUST finished. Well, firstly, it was not really that realistically gory or graphic; it mostly had a more cartoon-like vibe to it. And, regardless of the director's NOTORIOUS proclivity for extreme, sadistic violence (thus my normal avoidance of his films) this one honestly came off as not really that explicit or 'Real'. Other films of his where he has actual PEOPLE doing horrific, REALISTIC things to other people, I wouldn't come within 100 miles of, but based upon the extremely Fantastical premise, I figured that this would not likely be another one of his super heavy-handed Sadist- fests, and it truly wasn't.YES, the basic premise of what these 'Gods' are doing to these students is of course in principle quite terrible. But, that really wasn't the point of the film; the primary focus was NOT just a big set-piece for a bunch of gory deaths, although those do happen, but for most part, with a couple of exceptions (where I did FF a bit) they were not graphic or overly explicit.At the end, without giving anything away, you are left with a feeling that there are more layers to this than seems evident on the surface. As a matter of fact, the last minute or two actually left me kind of puzzled because I didn't quite understand what exactly happened (so I will be frigg'n LIVING on discussion boards until I find that out!) One underlying level of the film is fairly apparent concerning the one fellow learning to appreciate the life that he has (sort of a Psychedelic, Acid-induced 'IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE' by way of Takashi Miike) But, even beyond that there are other things touched upon and quite unexpectedly thought-provoking.So, I can fully understand how some here (3/5?) who are likely VERY hard core Miike fans, would be BITTERLY disappointed that this is NOT one of his usual more horrific and sadistic films, and probably just find this one totally Stupid. Understandable... BUT... for me, NOT a usual fan of Miike, heh... what I would call by comparison a 'Normal' person (using the term VERY loosely) I think the movie if you give it some thought, actually is more intriguing and entertaining and surprisingly thought-provoking than what might appear at first glance.So, I would say that if you are a hard core Miike fan and you really LIKE his usual hard core stuff, than this film will probably leave you flatter than Chaz Bono. BUT... If you like your Horror films REALLY Imaginative, and you aren't just looking for a bunch of torture-porn sadism, and if you can be patient and give the movie some thought, I think that many people will definitely come away from seeing this with several different feelings and levels that the movie touches in you that you would not expect...

Seeing that it's based on a manga for boys and rising young popular actors were cast in it, obviously, this movie was targeted at 10s to early 20s. As such, the gore and violence was pretty tame for a Miike movie. The death games that the high schoolers have to survive are so simple, thus not so interesting, but the opening sequence with the Daruma doll, where gore was replaced with 80,000 red marbles/bouncy balls, was well executed along the theme of child's play succeeding in creating surrealistic imagery and is considered as the highlight of the movie. The CG was not so bad overall. I like the modeling of the Daruma doll with glaring bloodshot eyes. Also I like the twisted casting for the deadly matreshka dolls dubbed by the voice actors who play Doraemon and Jibanyan, 2 iconic anime characters loved by the nation.Acting wise, feels like Ryunosuke Kamiki stole the show and the character played by Nao Omori was totally unnecessary.

Based on manga with the same title, Kamisama no iu tôri (As the Gods Will) is a story of average high school students forced to play a series of deadly games. Takeshi Miike who has proved capable with such theme is the perfect pick to create a fascinating, occasionally humorous and gory live action of the manga. He has a distinct stylish visual, timely touch of horror and a proper respect to the original source.For such grimly movie, the cinematography is very sleek and cool. Viewpoints from above and panoramic shots are used often to set the ambiance. Visual offers bloody gore with mildly tone down violence. For the part of full blood pool of the manga, this movie counterpart uses a more comical effect yet without neglecting the intensity of the scene. In fact Miike, as expected, produces a couple of nasty gruesome sequences of his own.Humor and philosophical elements are steadily present. The first half sees more comedy for ironic purpose, as the story progresses and the death dealing intensifies the tone tends to be more serious. The movie has taken the liberty of creating more appropriate screenplay for later games. This is due to the fact that it might become overly complex for a feature length movie to display later arcs, and frankly it's not a cause for concern as the new screenplay is still presentable and keeps all the thrilling attributes of the manga.Miike has a knack for the unassuming shift of tone, as seen from Crows Zero and 13 Assassins. Sometimes the movie would transition from quiet scene to a rather explicit one. It doesn't venture into dark territory too much, but it does warrant a mature rating. If there's any concern, it's that the nature of the games is highly inspired by Japanese culture, this might create a rather awkward narrative at some points though it's only a minor hindrance.Equally quirky and disturbing, the myriad of bizarrely captivating games of death is brought to live by Takeshi Miike.