Ember's analysis
- Pacing
- Measured
- Intensity
- Moderate
- Complexity
- Easy to follow
- Violence
- Moderate
- brooding
- somber
- violent
- late night crime marathon
- japanese cinema night
What critics said
Critics broadly regarded the film as a dull, clichéd, and culturally incurious yakuza drama weakened by Jared Leto’s disengaged performance.
What sets it apart
May contain story progression spoilers
Nick Lowell is the only non-Japanese inmate in an Osaka prison and later enters the Shiromatsu yakuza clan.
The plot foregrounds yakuza clan membership, irezumi tattoos, debt repayment, and criminal hierarchy.
The story is explicitly set in Osaka in 1954, nine years after the Pacific War, amid entrenched yakuza organizations.
Nick saves Kiyoshi from being hanged, and the Shiromatsu clan repays that debt by arranging his release.
Films like The Outsider, and why
Black Rain
shared postwar Japanese setting, yakuza crime drama, outsider protagonist, and underworld power struggles
Outrage
shared yakuza milieu, clan politics, stylized criminal violence, and morally unstable alliances
Battles Without Honor and Humanity
shared Japanese organized-crime setting, criminal brotherhoods, and bleak gangster drama
The Yakuza
shared foreign outsider entering a dangerous criminal subculture and confronting loyalty codes
Movie Details
- Director
- Martin Zandvliet
- Release Date
- 2018-03-09
- Runtime
- 120 min
- Rating
- 6.1 / 10 (717)
Cast
- Jared Leto
- Tadanobu Asano
- Kippei Shiina
- Shioli Kutsuna
- Min Tanaka
- Nao Omori
- Emile Hirsch
- Rory Cochrane
- YOUNG DAIS
- Masaki Miura
Where to watch in United States
- Streaming
- Netflix, Netflix Standard with Ads
- Rent
- Google Play Movies
- Buy
- Google Play Movies
Streaming options come from TMDB and change over time.
Common questions
- What is The Outsider about?
- A lone foreign prisoner earns passage into postwar Osaka’s yakuza underworld, where gratitude becomes a dangerous form of belonging.
- What is The Outsider like to watch?
- Ember's analysis rates the pacing of The Outsider as measured, its intensity as moderate and its storytelling as easy to follow.
- Is The Outsider violent?
- Somewhat. Ember rates the violence in The Outsider as moderate.
- What did critics think of The Outsider?
- Critics broadly regarded the film as a dull, clichéd, and culturally incurious yakuza drama weakened by Jared Leto’s disengaged performance.
- Which films are like The Outsider?
- Films with a similar feel include Black Rain, Outrage, Battles Without Honor and Humanity, and The Yakuza.
- How long is The Outsider?
- The Outsider runs 120 minutes.
- Where can I watch The Outsider?
- In United States, The Outsider streams on Netflix, Netflix Standard with Ads.
