JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Diamond Is Unbreakable – Chapter 1 (2017)

What makes Diamond Is Unbreakable – Chapter 1 such a kick is how it treats “bizarre” not as a warning label but as a promise: Takashi Miike dives headfirst into a candy-colored town where everyday sidewalks can feel like trapdoors into the uncanny, and it’s exhilarating. The action has a crisp, playful momentum—fights aren’t just punches and poses, they’re imaginative puzzles brought to life with bold visuals and a gleeful commitment to the weirdness of Stands. Even if you’ve never touched the manga or anime, the film’s pacing and character chemistry pull you along like you’ve been invited into a secret club with great taste in chaos. It’s not for viewers who need grounded realism or tidy closure—this is very much a “chapter one”—but if you’re on the fence and want a stylish, high-energy fantasy-thriller that swings for the fences, it’s an easy yes.

Takashi Miike’s live-action take on Diamond Is Unbreakable is clearly trying to bottle the anime’s weird charm and comic-book power battles, and when it leans into that heightened style it can be genuinely fun. The problem is it plays like a very expensive prologue: it introduces a lot of characters, rules, and mysteries, then keeps hitting “ending” beats without delivering a satisfying payoff. The pacing sags in the back half, the plot threads pile up, and the muted visual palette can make the whole thing feel flatter than the source’s usual pop. If you’re already a JoJo fan who can treat this as Chapter 1 and enjoy the cast and Stand spectacle along the way, you’ll get something out of it; if you want a complete, tightly told movie, this will likely test your patience.