I will start out by saying that this movie started off disappointing because of the cinematography, it just seemed really outdated for the year 2000 when this movie came out. The trailer made this movie look pretty darn cool and has elements blended in for a great movie, but it just isn't all that effective with it's execution. It's just one of those movies that should have been a comic book instead of a movie. The movie is watchable without getting too dull, but the characters seem too much like cardboard cutouts sometimes. In fact I didn't find myself caring for any of the characters and didn't care what happens to them. It just didn't really have anything that grabbed my attention in the beginning of this film, it lacked the elements that would have made it entertaining or at least engaging. One of the main flaws of this film is that it's convoluted without grabbing the audiences attention and will not make you even care what is going on. This film however has it's moments although very few, but it does sort of picks up after a while although it takes patience to get there.4.5/10

I have a troubled relationship to Takashi Miikes films. While i usually find them interesting i have a hard time really enjoying them. And while (or perhaps because) this is one of his less extreme movies i have the same problem here.When Takashi Miike is discussed people often mention his over-the-top, gore-filled movies with flashy visuals and plots that are usually quite hard to comprehend. Of course plot usually takes the back-seat and are not the reason why you would watch something by Miike to begin with. "The City of Lost Souls" however is a more conventional movie where the plot is easier to understand and the action is not as extreme. And the result is, perhaps not surprisingly, not very interesting in my opinion.This is the story about a Brazilian gangster and his girlfriend who try to leave Japan to start a new life. But things don't go as planned and before long they end up having both the Triads and the Yakuza on their tail after interfering with a drug deal.This movie does have some interesting scenes, it's far from all bad. But in the end this is not twisted enough for my tastes. And to me it feels like Miike doesn't really have the ideas or the script to make a more straight-forward movie out of this. Rather it feels like he should either have focused more on the plot here or tried twisting the whole style of the movie a couple of times. In the end this becomes a movie with a weak plot and not enough screwed-up moments to make it interesting. While it's not without entertainment value, it's still a disappointment. I rate it 4/10.

(aka: CITY OF LOST SOULS)This one supremely sux. I suppose this happens to a lot of directors who gain an international cult following and then start believing all the hype that surrounds them. They wind up putting out silly twaddle like this.Talk about a convoluted mess. I don't know what's going on since we go from one scene (in the desert) to the next (in Tokyo) to the next (in Brazil?) with random acts of violence occurring, with little or no motive involved in each one of them. It's comes across (to this viewer) as a Japanese version of NATURAL BORN KILLERS or MAN BITES DOG. I suppose if that's your sort of thing, then this might be for you. But I'd just as soon do without...Admittedly as this moves along, we get a more cohesive plot concerning Mario and his Chinese girlfriend stealing cocaine and money from the Yakuza, who in turn kidnap a little girl and hold her for ransom of the stolen money and dope. But by that point in time, I became uninterested in the outcome and barely finished the film. Even the cgi is crude-looking for a flick of this type.Another step down for Miike that began with DEAD OR ALIVE and continues...PS: Yeah, even the ending was pretty dumb.2 out of 10

When I watch an Asian film, I am not interested in one where the hero is a non-Asian and at least fifty per cent of the cast is as well. Miike has a track record of pushing the envelope, and maybe that's what he was trying to do here, by breaking the taboo of a Western protagonist, who kills many Asians to boot.Most of the Asian characters are portrayed here as hissingly antagonist or just weak and victimized. Though I am a non-Asian myself, I was personally offended, and felt this was just a strident attempt at shock and irreverence.No where near as good as some of Miike's other films, such as "Odishon."