Kurôzu zero II

THE CROWS are BACK....

And this time they have a common enemy , a rival school plotting to bring them down.

Genji has to bring all gangs of suzuran together, only then he will be truly respected as a leader.

Its great to see the character of Genji mature as he realises beating everyone up alone doesn't make you a leader.

All old characters from the first movie are back , and a bunch of new ones too forming the rival gang.

Action is great.....style is cool....and background music is just perfect.

A good sequel. A great ride. Fans of the first part wont be disappointed looking forward to CROWS ZERO 3 , if it ever happens.

Takeshi Miike returns to helm the second installment of Crows Zero, which is arguably amongst his more mainstream work, based upon the manga by Hiroshi Takahashi. Bringing back almost all the major cast from the first film, one should expect more of the same story of high school violence given the thuggish micro-society amongst the academic community, where it's sans teachers and books, replaced by life's experience though the school of hard knocks (at times literally), coupled with the opening of old wounds and settling them through some good 'ol fisticuffs.

This sequel essentially picked up from where we last left off from the first film, with a prologue that went back some 2 years to set up the introduction of the rival thugs in Hosen Academy, where their leader got gutted by Sho Kawanishi (Shinnosuke Abe) in a cowardly manner against the rules where a weapon was used. Upon Sho's release, he's hunted down by Hosen members, where his flight from punishment landed him onto Suzuran's turf. Given a truce between the two schools, it got quickly broken by a standoff, caused by de-facto current leader Genji Takaya (Shun Oguri). So begins the reason for more action, broken bones and bruised egos in whack-fest sequences.

For those who have not seen the first film, it's not really necessary as you'll be quickly primed into the scheme of things, though those who had will undoubtedly enjoy some more detailed insights as to who the characters are, and their respective motivations. For starters at least, one would have expected Genji to have united Suzuran under his banner, but the truth is far from it. As with most aspects of leadership, respect is earned, not a given, even though you've defeated the biggest bad-ass in school, Tamao Serizawa (Takayuki Yamada). Suzuran is still very fragmented amongst its various levels and cliques, and made worse because of the perceived ineptness of Genji to lead them.

In classic united we stand, divided we fall scenario, Hosen students, in their skin-head motif, bring about some fearful raw energy as they wage war against their rivals. Leading the pack are Taiga (Nobuaki Kaneko) who sports a mean-looking goatee (which for an Arsenal fan like myself, I can't help but to associate his resemblance to Robert Pires), and a Michael Jackson- like character in Ryo (Gou Ayano), with pasty white skin, soft spoken demeanour and an aversion to sunlight (hence the umbrella), but packs quite the wallop when allowed to do his own thing in unleashing mayhem against his opponents.

The fight scenes replicated what has been experienced in the first film, and I suppose even those who are new to this may find it a little repetitive at times although the fights are more realistically designed sans impossible leaps and superhuman powers, save for some unbelievable endurance of the combatants. In the finale battle for instance, which lasted some more than 20 minutes of screen time, brought out an interesting, battle-to-the-top scenario as attacks come wave after wave, which is kinda smart as it gave the various characters ample opportunity to show off their moves and abilities to hold their own ground. Miike, for all his morbidity infused in various genre films in his filmography, again chose not to include unnecessary blood and gore,

Fans of Meisa Kuroki (like *ahem*, myself) may take some delight in having the idol appear in all but 3 different scenes, 2 of which are spent consoling Genji, and one performing on stage at the pub (like what she did in the first film), though this time round it's a rather tame and shortened version of Bad Girl (those of you who have seen that music video, will know what I mean). But hey, at least Miike brought her back, so no complaints I guess. The soundtrack is again amply peppered with pop-rock music, and the main theme just accentuates perfectly the proud swagger each time the characters band together to battle. You can't help but feel that it's arse-kicking time, each time the theme comes on, cliché as this technique may be in inducing you to swell with pride as if you too are wearing a Suzuran badge.

Crows Zero II may seem like a rehash of the first film, but under different circumstances. The key subplot here involved Sho's attempt to reintegrate back into the society he knows, which is very similar to ex-convicts seeking a second chance at forgiveness after a major wrong. Other than that, there's very little emoting by the characters, or what passed as emoting in Genji's moping of why he's still pretty much the loner despite being Suzuran's top dog, and Serizawa being very much a shadow of his first film self, waiting menacingly in the wings in threatening take over looks, but very much more like the fallen hero awaiting an opportunity for a comeback. I guess fame and power doesn't account for anything especially when you belong to the same house. While the first film was essentially an ego trip for the protagonists in gaining and holding onto turf and reputation, this one rang home the importance of banding together and putting aside differences and ego for the greater good and survivability.

Thankfully the action sequences get interspersed throughout, which naturally is the draw of the film. It's surprising too that for all the simplicity in its storyline, it still managed to extend itself to more than two hours, which flew by especially when you're having fun as observers to major fights.

After finding himself the King of Suzuran, Genji now experiences new obstacles and challenges, facing Hosen High School, after he is caught violating the armistice agreement between Suzuran High School and Hosen High School.

The second film, which is still directed by Takashi Miike, continues the story of Genji as the leader of Suzuran. The second film this time I think is more exciting and more challenging than the first film. The film develops by conflicting to hostility with another school, Hosen, which has a bad history with Suzuran. The main story of this film is more interesting and the climax of the film is challenging. The fighting action is also more exciting. The inner conflict that Genji experienced was much bigger and heavier than the first film. The impression of revenge and thirst for violence is indeed very pronounced in this film. For the final battle between Genji and Narumi is a little less exciting, looking tired and exhausted.

Kehadiran one of the students in the past did nothave any influence on the main storyline. His presence makes for his own story that has no bearing on the feud between Suzuran and Hosen. Although it is still related to Yakuza and Genji's father, it is not one of the factors in Genji's personal turmoil and conflicts. One of Ryo's actions becomes very interesting seeing that she has a deadly appearance behind her silent face.

I suppose if you like this kind of stylized violence high school gangster drama it would be a good movie, but that is not the qualities I look for in a Miike film.

To each his own, but I've always thought the high school gangster drama films from Japan ( there are many ) were kind of a joke. If you like them, I'm sure you would enjoy this movie. If you don't - AVOID AT ALL COSTS.

I sure hope Miike can get some more interesting scripts in the future. Wading through so many B-movies can be tiring, but it is worth it when you come across a masterpiece. Of which Miike has many.

Takshi Miike is without a doubt one of the most productive directors in the world and one of the most famous personalities in the contemporary Japanese Cinema along with Takeshi Kitano. But if you produce a lot of films, the risk is rather elevated that some of them are filler material and this is also the case for "Crows Zero II". I think that this movie is only interesting for those who had really enjoyed the first part.

Nevertheless, there are a few strong points in this Takashi Miike movie. As always, the music in this movie is great and introduces us once more into the Japanese alternative rock scene. A couple of bands even perform live in this movie in a cool underground bar. If you are a fan of that kind of music, you should get your Hands on the soundtrack instead of the movie itself. Another positive aspect are the settings and decorations. The gang locations in form of abandoned skyscrapers or schools in desperate Suburbs of big cities are quite original and have some charm by showing us the ugly face of Japan. The dark and dirty streets, underground bars and other obscure locations are very well chosen as well. The clothes of the different gangs are all very distinctive, too. Some actors also stand out with their very own style: we have the weird guy with a big scar in form of a cross on his cheek that has ugly teeth, we have a cool blond haired young Gangster and a brutal androgynous guy who looks harmless and is rather silent but turns out to be a brutal maniac.

As you can see, this movie has quite some potential. The reason why it fails is the story itself. First of all, this movie lacks of a coherent story line and includes too many side stories that are not very interesting and add sometimes even an unnecessary slapstick touch to the movie. It's also quite hard to follow this movie as it's the case for many Takashi Miike movies. There are way too many characters, too many names and too many issues in this film. In addition to that, the director also included a few flashbacks to the first movie. Instead of making the movie clearer, these passages harm the already irregular flow of this sequel. Those who haven't seen the first movie will get mixed up and feel frustrated while those who have seen the first strike might feel bored. That's not a very smart move form the director. Basically, this movie introduces a couple of young gangs that are more or less controlled by Yakuza clans that get involved in quite brutal battles. The first few battles as well as the overlong final one might be interesting but the whole thing quickly gets redundant and turns out to be quite senseless violence without any aesthetics.

There are way better movies by Takashi Miike like the great mafia flick "Family", the surreal masterpiece "Gozu" or the more traditional martial arts film "13 Assassins". "Crows Zero II" is one of those unnecessary sequels that only a couple of die hard fans might appreciate and it is among Takashi Miikes weaker works because there is not enough content and originality in here but too many characters and a whole lot of senseless violence.