Crows Zero II

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.

The first "Crows Zero" mainly revolved around Genji Takiya building a reputation and most of the characters are pretty much developed for these types of flicks. And the GPS gang is now the most dominant gang in Suzuran high school. So where does the film goes from there. Well now instead of having rival gangs inside the same school they are now fighting against another school called Hosen Academy. Because they have a past beef they want to settle with each other. It does have some subplots that doesn't really have anything to do with the core story. But it's passable but pointless and doesn't add much to the movie besides the running time. So the core story is about how Genji Takiya starts up the fire between the two schools by breaking the non-aggression pact. And most of the movie is basically about Hosen Academy attacking Suzuran high school members to antagonize them and Genji trying to build up a bigger army. If it's GPS or not regardless in order to beat Hosen Academy. There are some character that are just not all that relevant. Especially Meisa Kuroki who doesn't add anything at all to this movie but basically the almost the only female character in this flick. Some of the lines in "Crows Zero" is just cliché tough guy lines but this one takes it to a whole another level. I was like "C'mon don't go there" but it does and it can come off very predictable and lame. Even for a movie based on a manga. The fights are entertaining to watch for a while but it starts to lose it's value after a while. And there is a lot of fight scenes in this movie but becomes a bit dull after a while, maybe because the only fighting style in this is brawling. The final fight this time around is bigger with just about all the main characters showing off there fighting skills but nothing all that memorable. Overall this is a decent sequel that is worth a watch if your one of the audiences that enjoyed the first "Crows Zero".

6.9/10

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.

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.