CROWS ZERO II
DVD. MVM.

For this to make any sense at all, you really do need to have seen Crows Zero; there are no introductions here, nor a recap. A sufficient amount of time has passed—it doesn't quite pick up exactly where we left off; marketing lies again—for us to know that Genji, despite defeating Seriwaza, isn't respected as a leader. Suzuran is therefore in disarray, so when an uneasy truce with rival gang Hosen is inadvertently ruined by Genji, the group is at real threat.

It's not often that I will find myself bored during a Takashi Miike film, yet Crows Zero II manages to achieve it. Now, I was not naive enough to expect any real character development or, hell, even much of a story; Crows Zero - which I enjoyed - is no human drama, after all. What I was looking forward to was a relentless edit of fight scene after fight scene. And sure, they're there. What drags attention away is an overly long middle section; a good 20 minutes could, and should, have been shorn off here, its directionless such that some subplot is forgotten about, almost taking me by surprise when reappearing. As such, a good portion of the film will be spent lamenting what feels like pointlessness.

But as we enter the final act, Miike reels us back in. Genji gives a speech to Suzuran, rallying the group for what will be the biggest showdown of their lives, and for this, the tension is palpable. This leads to a 30-minute battle that'll have you on the edge of your seat, a payoff that's more than worth the wait. One of my favourite things about Miike is his tendency to direct fight scenes with an element of naturalness; characters stumble, not wrapped in showcase choreography. Obviously there is stylisation here but the split is spot on; it's utterly exhilarating. It doesn't justify the film as a whole, the overall editing really quite shameful in terms of balance, with the strongest characters—in particular Serizawa, surely the most intriguing of the first—relegated to minor supporting roles. A little more consideration of this, and a very good film could have been had.

NAILA SCARGILL

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