The Fable

Deliciously funny, action packed flick with comments on what's considered relevant I'm social behavior. Sarcastic and very efficient!

This movie was on my watchlist for some time before i actually had the courage to start watching it.

Wasn't expecting much but the action scenes were amazing and the humour was just my thing.

The main actor delivers a splendid job portraying an estranged hitman trying to fit in.

Watched the sequel as well and I'll probably read the books now that i found out about this.

This was the second Japanese film I've watched after Rurouni Kenshin (series)... this one is a pure action/comedy entertainer. I was not expecting this out when I started this movie on Netflix.. Just enjoyed throughout. Simply storyline, but executed very well.

I first watched the sequel and then this. Both are kind of similar, although the sequel felt a little more grounded. Great action scenes, all actors do a great job, even the stupid faced Yakuza types that normally just bug out their eyes and jut their chins and shout rude slang, in this film they have a personality and act with care for their characters. As others noticed, it is a film threading a fine line between comedy and dark action, which doesn't always work, but mostly does.

In fact, the film feels really inconsistent: good acting in a manga adaption, forced sex trafficking followed by comedy, great action scenes in a rather unentertaining story, although not a formulaic one, deeper levels of characterization in a movie about an autistic assassin. Worth a watch.

Known as 'The Fable' an assassin has been trained since childhood to be the perfect assassin; now he has been told that he must take a year off. He must live as 'Akira Sato', an ordinary man. This means no guns and definitely no killing... if he kills anybody, for whatever reason, he will be killed. It won't be that easy though. He moves to Osaka where he gets an ordinary job. Unfortunately for him he keeps running into people who want trouble or want his unique services. Ultimately, when a new friend is kidnapped, he must try to rescue her from a large number of yakuza without killing any of them.

This film may not be the sort that is likely to compete for any major awards but it is a lot of fun. The action begins in the opening scene as we see just how efficient an assassin 'The Fable' is. This action is far from bloodless. The story could have been played straight but it is full of humour. Some of this, such as our protagonist finding a particularly silly comedian hilarious, does wear a bit thin at times but not enough to spoil my enjoyment. The cast is solid; frequently hamming it up in a way that suits the material. Overall I'd definitely recommend fans of action films give this a go. I'll definitely be watching the sequel.

These comments are based on watching the Film in Japanese with English subtitles.