Saturday, January 31, 2009

Rise of the Crows

Takashi Miike's Crows Zero is surely not his best work but it was a damn entertaining ride. It's based on a manga about clashing gangs of high school boys who want to control Suzuran High School. It stars Shun Oguri (of Hana-dan fame) who holds the story together (it's littered with plenty of other J-drama stars). The story isn't wholly original by any means but Miike shoots it well altho you may never think this a Miike flick if you're familiar with his earlier work. Despite the healthy dose of violence throughout, Crows Zero is fairly mainstream in its presentation (easier to swallow than much of Miike's other works). I found it hilarious that most of the characters wear the same outfits/clothes throughout most of the flick.

I sat thru Underworld Rise of the Lycans at Showcase 12. It wasn't bad but felt more like a serial for the small screen (with higher production values) than a big screen feature. I probably won't bother getting this one on DVD altho I do like Michael Sheen (Lucian) a lot more in this flick than the first one. Then again I didn't think I'd get the 2nd flick on DVD either.

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