The Outsider

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1:45

The Outsider

TV-MA

2018

2h 0m

Crime

Drama

Mystery & Thriller

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Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

13%

Tomatometer

23 Reviews

67%

Popcornmeter

500+ Ratings

After World War II, an American POW stays in Japan and works his way through the rituals and hardships of the yakuza to become a member of the crime organization.

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Critics Consensus

Starring a disengaged Jared Leto and stuffed with gangster cliches, The Outsider never distinguishes itself enough to gain admittance into the inner circle of good yakuza pictures.

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Nick Allen

RogerEbert.com

Take Leto out of the picture and you have an even less noteworthy movie, a yakuza tale with an originality deficit.

Rated: 1.5/4

Mar 9, 2018

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David Ehrlich

IndieWire

Can a gaijin ever be trusted like family, or will his motives ultimately be self-serving? It's an interesting question in a story that's otherwise completely devoid of interesting questions, but The Outsider is too enamored with its foreign star.

Rated: D

Mar 8, 2018

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Noel Murray

Los Angeles Times

"The Outsider" is a slick copy of multiple, much-better films and TV series. It's so well-polished it's practically featureless.

Mar 8, 2018

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Dan Jackson

Thrillist

The Outsider is needlessly cruel, dour, and slow. No amount of brooding from a handsome leading man can save it.

Jan 29, 2021

Full Review

Christian Gallichio

The Playlist

It's hard to fault The Outsider too much though, as it will predictably fall into the black hole that is Netflix original movies, so here's hoping that Zandvliet, Leto, and especially Hjelm move on to better things in the near future.

Rated: D

Oct 24, 2018

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Alci Rengifo

Entertainment Voice

The Outsider feels like the first draft of a story that could have worked with more tweaks and energy. It is another case of a project featuring talented people, but never truly exploiting their talents.

Aug 26, 2018

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Stu L

Honestly this film gets a lot of hate from a lot of people. But honestly if your into Japan especially the Yakuza then you will enjoy it a lot. Yes Jared leto isn't the greatest guy on the planet but if you can separate Jared leto as a person from the character he is playing as you can really like it. I would easily rate this as a 7.8. the ending isn't isn't something to write home about, but the atmosphere and the story is pretty good. Instead of taken the negative critics or even the positive ones just watch it yourself and judge it for your own. You know you better then anyone else. The negative critics are just upset because they didn't get a completely epic movie to watch..over sensitive, they all can't be winners. I enjoyed this film for what it was..a story about a American POW in Japan after WW2 and finding himself joining the ranks of the Yakuza. Is it perfect? No not even close. But is it as awful as everyone says it is? No not even close.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

03/24/25

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Christian S

The Ending made it a masterpiece of Satisfaction 😄

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

03/19/25

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Rory R

This film seems to get a lot of harsh reviews even from critics. However, this seems shallow and almost ignorant to the complexity of the ideas and emotions that are being shown to the viewer. This film has so many layers to it with much of the characters feelings and emotions being shown visually. Rather than critic the film for not telling the viewer how they should feel about a character, it instead allows the viewer to make their own judgments on a man who is by no means good. It shows the line a person might walk when they have nothing and are given the opportunity for love, family and a place to belong all the while staying true to themselves. All in all a good film with some great visuals and a plot which keeps you going until the end.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

03/04/25

Full Review

Hector T

I thought the movie was a solid 7/10 Jared did the performance his way and the way only he can, sure other actors could have brought more energy to the role but I think this set the vibe for the movie.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

01/23/25

Full Review

Faiszal David C

realmente la película intenta hacer una propuesta bastante interesante, a pesar de que hay momentos donde se torna lenta y se espera un poco mas, la película vale totalmente la pena, incentivando un poco hasta una secuela.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

01/13/25

Full Review

Chicken W

Painfully dull..For the majority of the film you don't know what the hell is going on. Slow, slow, slow. Jared Leto is the least charismatic actor in the world. I hate this film.

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

12/27/24

Full Review

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Martin Zandvliet

Director

Jared Leto

Nick Lowell

Tadanobu Asano

Kiyoshi

Rory Cochrane

Panetti

Kippei Shiina

Orochi

Emile Hirsch

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The Outsider: Trailer 1

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Synopsis

After World War II, an American POW stays in Japan and works his way through the rituals and hardships of the yakuza to become a member of the crime organization.

Director: Martin Zandvliet
Producer: Ken Kao, Art Linson, John Linson
Screenwriter: Andrew Baldwin
Production Co: Linson Entertainment, Waypoint Entertainment
Rating: TV-MA
Genre: Crime, Drama, Mystery & Thriller
Original Language: English
Release Date (Streaming): Mar 9, 2018
Runtime: 2h 0m

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