Really Surprised!

Good concept, poorly executed.

Brilliant and touching

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

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.

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

Genji now number one in Suzuran accidentally breaks the peace between Suzuran's gangs and Housen a rival school. Genji must unite everyone if he is to remain in his current position and go down in the books as a true legend.Again, this film has tons of plot holes, character's that go unexplored and some that are given little screen time until the final moments of the film. But, lets take it for what it is...a brilliant fight film. Yes, the fight scenes are repetitive...the same punch...the same kick, the absence of blocking a punch! (I guess they've become hardened after fighting for so long)Anyway...the fight scenes are still fun to watch...though some tend to go on a little longer than I would have liked.

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.