ScottieFerg I'm writing after watching the movie and reading the previous reviews. Watching the film I couldn't help seeing nearly every segment as yet another sad attempt at recapturing the thrills, twists, relationships, etc. carried out so wonderfully in "The Bourne Identity". I felt embarrassed for Gary Oldman playing this cardboard cut-out of the Chris Cooper's 'Conklin' character. I won't bother listing the plagiarized elements- they are too numerous, too obvious, and would take more time than this sad film deserves. I'll take a tip from you earlier reviewers and sample a Barry Eisler novel. I'm so deeply into Martin Cruz Smith's 'Arkady Renko' novels (again!) that I'm liable to be disappointed. I'll need a trip to the Gulag to get my hunger back.

Wm_Gardner Watched this online last night…...relative to much of what I have watched online with Netflix, this was a pretty good movie, all in all. The plot was fairly predictable, almost formulaic. The producers made the right call in casting; Oldman's role is what convinced me to try it...... The dialogue is mostly in Japanese and a good 90% of the film is set in Japan. This means to be prepared for lots of subtitles. I usually do not mind and a fair percentage of my "all-time, top 20 favourites" are foreign. Just that night, I was hoping for a break from reading and as I mentioned earlier, this plot would not have required my undivided attention on the screen. Cast: -Kippei Shiina,: does a nice job. Felt a bit like this was supposed to be something of a "vehicle" film for him. He did not become one of my new "must watch" actors but I would be interested in seeing more of his work sometime. He played the role of a reluctant "unbeatable action hero". Got the impression that he is capable of more...... -Oldman was not really at his true best, at times it almost felt like an "impression of how Gary Oldman may act"; Pacino does that sometimes in his less stellar performances. Little, oddly timed, fits of mania, the way he conveys the big "master plan" towards the end....... At times it just felt like a caricature of Oldman's best roles. -Kyoko Hasegawa.: Not one who watches many Japanese films, she was a nice surprise! I felt she was the actress who really "made the show". Does a very nice job of playing "the beautiful woman who was in danger"/ "love interest". Not too much screaming, not too much whining, and she did not try to "Rambo" up either. She was interesting, smart, understated, emotionally strong, very beautiful, and showed some real acting talent. She was far more than just a pretty face; I would be interested in seeing her work again. -Akira Emoto: did a very nice job but the role was sure not one to stretch his acting skills. A minor part, but he usually tends to stand out due to his talent and skill.So, in summary, if you are looking for an action movie on Netflix (or a rental, do not mind subtitles, like Japanese movies (with some Western influence), and one that has a reasonably happy ending with good casting...... go for it. You could certainly do much worse than "Rain Fall".

keykendrick 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.

epat 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.