OK, so I'm an Eastwood fan – IMO Outlaw Josey Wales is one of *the* great American films,
for example and much of his later work such as Gran Torino is outstanding.

That said, I don't think this new Japanese remake suffers at all in comparison to the 1992
Eastwood film. In fact, comparing the two, I have to say I find this new one more compelling.

Hokkaido, the sensibilities of the Korean-Japanese writer/director, the Hollywood style production values and outstanding acting work together extremely well. Seeing good-guy
civilian Japanese with guns in a realistic setting (for example) is something I've never seen
nor expect to see in an all-Japanese production.
As far as the acting goes, Ken Watanabe may be consciously modeling his performance on
Eastwood but it doesn't *feel* that way when you're watching it – in fact, the range of expression that Watanabe's character requires is more varied than any of Eastwood's
acting roles that I can think of (Josey Wales being closest) and Watanabe's rendering of it
seems completely natural.

If you have any chance of catching this on the big screen, don't pass it up.

You latte-sipping, metrosexual fuckwits might, I doubt anyone familiar with Eastwood's amazing run of work in the last 10 years would.