Crows Zero - Review

Release date : March 31, 2009

Directed by Takashi Miike
With Shun Oguri, Takayuki Yamada, Kyosuke Yabe

Japanese movie
Genre : Action
Length : 2h
Production year : 2008
Original title : クローズ ZERO













Synopsis

The Suzuran Senior High School for Boys is the poorest achieving, most violent school in the country. The students band together in factions, battling each other for influence and power. But they all share a common goal, one that has never been reached in the school's history: unification. No one faction has ever reigned supreme. Genji Takiya, a transfer student who attempts to take over Suzuran Boys High School and is mentored by old boy yakuza Katagiri as he faces off against rival Serizawa.

My review

It was the kind of movie I had dreamt of watching for a very long time, especially after watching a lot of dramas based on high school life in Japan. I wanted something more violent and stylish, but when I saw that the director was Takashi Miike, I was a bit worried - The reason being that he has made many weird and crazy movies. But the more I looked at the trailers and photos of Crows Zero, the more enthusiast I became and the more I was thinking that I was about to be blown away... And for once I was right, it blew my mind!

Don't expect to watch a fighting movie like any other, where the characters fight without good reasons, where the screenplay is just superficial. In the worst case scenario, if the screenplay was very bad or even non-existent and we only had fighting, I would mind; But Takashi Miike didn't want that and really wanted to do the best job possible to show the Mangaka, Hiroshi Takahashi, that he could trust him (this movie is the prologue of the Manga WORST and the Mangaka refused many times to assign the rights to other directors).


From the first minutes we see that the movie is in good hands and Mr. Miike masters his movie perfectly. In 10 minutes we're already blown away: highschool students fights and there is confrontation between Genji and Yakuza with a rock music background, which fits perfectly to the badass atmosphere of the whole movie. The rest of the movie is simply the confirmation of those first minutes and shows that Miike never does things by halves and achieves what he started splendidly.

The final fight between Genji and Tamao is somehow the one of our own lives: we all want to be the best and we do everything within our power to achieve our goals. From this perspective comes a unique and joyful atmosphere, because we know they fight to achieve the goals they set. Smiling and fighting, those two "enemies" are ready to conquer the world and they know that even if they lose a fight, they will rise again. After watching the movie, we have a lust for life and the will to give ourselves to our goals, achieving them by any means possible.

 
More info on imdb.com