Crows Zero

Personally, I'm not a Miike Takashi fan, and I usually dislike these "Furyou" (deliquent high schooler) genre films, but it was surprisingly enjoyable film even for me.

The plot is quite typical of high school movies. Genji (Oguri Shun), a son of yakuza boss must achieve an unprecedented unification of notorious Suzuran High School (AKA: Crow's High School) in order to take over his father's position. Genji soon finds the strongest guy in the school: Serizawa (Yamada Takayuki), who was also set to conquer all other classes. Genji challenges Serizawa to a duel, but of course, being a newcomer that he is, wasn't taken seriously at first. Genji then seeks help and builds up his own army while defeating other minor 'bosses', and eventually a showdown with Serizawa in his journey to the top of Suzuran High.

The story for this film is extremely well-designed, with excellent flow from beginning to the very end. What I especially liked about this movie is that it was more than just random violence by bunch of kids trying to look badass. Although it IS action packed, the main theme of this film is school politics and friendship. Oguri Shun's character developed very well, from a clueless kid to a leader backed by many trustworthy friends.

Cinematography for this film was extremely well-done, from school to the streets, you can tell the production crew paid attention to the tiniest detail in every single scene. Action was also very well-directed for an exciting 2 hours. I thought it was even more visually pleasing than Miike's "Ryuu ga Gotoku".

Casting for this film is absolutely incredible. I recognized so many faces, many who established themselves in yakuza or delinquent roles, but the most pleasant surprise was Yamada Takayuki, who had his share of dark roles in the past, but never a violent one such as this, and possibly the first as a villain. I've never thought him as a wild type, but he was so cool as a villain and gave his character really big presence in this film. I'm still not convinced with Oguri Shun's acting or his role as a violent punk student, but he seemed to be less out of place as he was in "Hana Yori Dango" dorama series. All the other cast did what they do best, and a very high level of acting overall.

Although I haven't read the manga series, this prequel was very easy to follow. It's impossible to take away the cheesiness associated with manga-adaptation or high school violence, but it was an extremely well-directed action movie with a meaningful message.

Directing a movie based on a manga isn't something new for Japanese auteur Takashi Miike, who also adapted the ultra-violent Ichi the Killer for the big screen. However, with Crows: Episode 0, gone are the extreme violence, though it still retains some flavour normally found in a typical action flick. Known for movies like Audition and Big Bang Love, Juvenile A, both which were released here, this is probably one of his more accessible films to date, even though it treads on familiar territory with elements of the yakuza.

Crows: Episode 0 is set in an all boys Japanese high school, where instead of having educational classes and courses, what gets put on screen (I haven't read the manga obviously) happens to be an ecosystem of triad society split into different turfs according to grade levels, classes and reputation. Unification of all levels in the school is a challenge, and new boy Genji Takaya (Shun Oguri) throws down the gauntlet on the first day to take down reigning school gangster Tamao Serizawa (Takayuki Yamada), which he finds impossible given that the latter's picked up by the police.

But of course there are unwritten rules to follow in order to engage the top, and he enlists the help of a two-bit average Yakuza hoodlum Ken Katagiri (Kyosuke Yabe) to help plot his path of success. For the most parts, the story is simple to follow, as we shadow Genji in his quest to conquer the high school class by class, through sheer brute force, gaining of respect, or simply just friendship established. As his reputation grows, so does his threat towards Serizawa, which sets up the inevitable climatic showdown where the rival gangs gotta settle who's gonna rule the school. As the saying goes, one mountain cannot hide 2 tigers.

You can't help it but Korea's Volcano High comes to mind for comparison. However, this is without the effects laden stylistic fight sequences where the exponents possess superhuman powers and abilities. Here, it's the good old fisticuffs without a lot of frills, though styled to make the characters seem to have super-strength, no thanks to the sound effects of course. The art direction is beautifully peppered with plenty of graffiti art, and your eyes would just automatically wander off to read just about every word that's spray painted out there. Oozing plenty of testosterone and machismo, there are still enough tender moments to make you cringe, bearing in mind that after all, these are pretty looking boys with mean and tough looking exteriors, but sometimes still softies at heart.

It's fight club in schools where black leather is the new uniform. If you're a fan of no holds barred street fighting with camaraderie elements thrown in, sprinkled with a dash of humour (from sight gags to the toilet variety), then Crows: Episode 0 would be right up your alley.

Welcome to Suzuran High School, a high school whose students are scrambling to earn the title of King of High School. Genji, a transfer student, is no exception, now trying to take the title and find allies to be able to defeat Serizawa as a tough opponent.

Good. Exclamation. Explosive. A nice fight look to watch. A nice storyline to enjoy. Carrying the concept of the problem of power struggle as a ruler in schools, this film presents a classy inter-class brawl and is full of strong violence. The fierce battle scenes are the attraction of this film, especially in the final battle between Genji and Serizawa. So is how they can strengthen each other's alliances and bring down opponents both from cunning means and by force. This film also brings an element of comedy that adds excitement to this film.

All characters have their own portions and conflicts that give color to the story. Shun Oguri as Takiya Genji and Takayuki Tamada as Serizawa are the key characters and as the soul of the film. Genji's appearance as a Yakuza boy was indeed a children's idol at that time. A fierce look and full of ambition. Meanwhile, Serizawa became a leader with a flamboyant, hilarious, decisive and respected style.

This is the kind of movie where even though there are some noticeable shortcomings, they don't feel like they matter as much as they would in most other movies. Crows Zero kind of feels like a cross between a yakuza movie and a high school movie, and there's a decent amount of action in there for good measure. It takes place at a high school where classes don't seem to exist, and teachers I think are only visible in the first 10-15 minutes of the film. The school is just a battleground, really, with various factions and ambitious gang leaders (largely teenagers) all battling to "control" it.

It's a little strange how it begins sort of comedic and then decides it wants to be serious (albeit in a very heightened way) in the second half. There are probably a few too many characters to keep track of, but at the same time, considering the size of the cast and the pacing, the way they're all balanced is decent. It probably helps that most characters are straightforward, and like a lot of yakuza movies, they're all after essentially the same thing.

It's got a few action scenes throughout, and a pretty big one at the end that's a highlight. The wet, greyish mud a whole heap of people fight in reminded me of the opening action scene in The Raid 2 (2014). Like most times one film reminds me of another - and neither is the kind that EVERYONE has seen - it left me to wonder whether it's intentional, or just by brain methodically finding connections that aren't really there.

This is fully based on style. It's an exploration of what it means, in a certain moment in time, in a certain culture (arguably global...), to be cool.

Everything here is designed to look cool. In fact, whenever we hear about wanting to 'rule' the school, what's in fact at stake is being the coolest there. The fighting is a fundamental issue of that coolness, the best fighters gain admiration, not for their physical skill but for the coolness with what they get out of the situations - even when Genji is defeated after fighting dozens at the same time, he falls in a cool way. To underline this, we come to understand that in fact the strongest guy in the school was in fact away from the main disputes all the way, probably because he is not cool, in the notion of the cool guys (he is cool in his uncool way).

This is a thin notion, which probably will appeal to a teen mind (with 24 i'm not quite sure yet if i've ever been a teen). This film gets away with that single thin notion because it is able to support it visually. The director knows a few things about framing and pace, even though he doesn't take many risks (or none at all) in how he shoots the fights.

In a way, this is no different, in root, of series like Rambo, the filmography of Chuck Norris or the urban hip-hop acting pose. Different moments in time, and different places on earth, and an important element: this film doesn't take itself seriously, as the others do. This is all staged, and that's clear to us, and it's OK. The comedy bits exist to underline this. Also the parody of the Yakuza, as inferior guys who get beaten up by the school kids.

My opinion: 3/5

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