Dead or Alive 2: Birds (2000) User Reviews

DOA for the heart

[lleeheflin · 8/10 · 25 January 2005]

The problem it seems for so many Miike viewers is that their expectations build up from viewing earlier films. And then they expect all of his films to meet those expectations. And then whine and bitch when he confounds them. Why can not you all accept each of his films on it's own terms? Why would you expect DOA 2 to be like DOA 1? If you do, you don't know Miike and his approach to movie making.

The DOA TRILOGY is, it seems to me, Miike's meditation on the relationship between seemingly opposing energetic masculine 'forces'. In the films these forces are characterized in various ways: 'good'/'bad', 'light'/'dark', 'white'/'black', 'social'/'antisocial', police/gangs, Yakuza/triad, bla bla bla. And in this respect the trilogy is a meditation on man-to-man relations in general in our world today. In the first film, like positive and negative electrons, the personifications of these forces eventually annihilate one another in a cataclysmic explosion that destroys the planet that really messes with the audience's mind.

In the second film the embodiment of these forces are brought back together to explore the possibility of their working together as a positive conjunction for a 'greater good'. They are also shown here to have originated from more or less the same source. Their relationship here is glossed with 'gay' overtones. (A theme in more than a few of Miike's films.) But it would seem that the 'world' is unable to accept such a relationship, such a 'love' if you will, and the world eventually hunts them down and destroys them. This inevitability suffuses the whole film with a melancholic dread. Even in the lightest (and yes) Funny moments, you are aware that fate is stalking this Appollo/Dionysius pair relentlessly to bring them down. And of course the 'Furies' do descend on them (in a bizarre contemporary incarnation only Miike would have been able to think of!) and do destroy them. Though this time with a whisper and not a BANG. In musical terms DOA 2 can be seen as a kind of 'apache adagio', a dance of death.

So many people commenting on Miike's films here talk about his 'slow' moods as if 'slow' is a bad word. (If you are a speed freak then I guess 'slow' is a bad word in your vocabulary.) But it is to Miike's credit that he so obviously understands that some of the more profound of human experiences are lived in 'slow-motion' and can only be expressed and appreciated artistically in that mode. One has only to see some of his filmed interviews to know just how much he appreciates the 'slow' and 'still' in human experience. He is, after all, the product of a Zen culture. The two protagonists, Takeuchi & Aikawa, obviously know they are doomed. So they are doing their utmost to genuinely savior their remaining days. Much of this time is spent in a lush verdant countryside rather than in the city. And we are given the opportunity to savior their experience with them at their own pace. If one will but go on the trip with them it is a delicious beautiful bittersweet painful sad trip you feel lucky to have been allowed to trail along on.

I would characterize DOA 1 as being a trip for the groin and guts. DOA 2 as a trip for the heart. And DOA 3 as a trip for the mind/intellect. It was a stroke of genius on Miike's part to realize that he could introduce 2 characters in one film. Kill them off at the end of it. And then reanimate them in a second and then a third film with more or less totally different stories. And still have all 3 films truly be about those 2 same characters. And do it in such a way that they only reach full development at the end of the third film. Undoubtedly DOA 1 is the best of the 3 films. And all 3 films can and do stand well on their own. But it is equally true that the WHOLE STORY only gets 'told' by the trilogy.

Best of the trilogy

[movieman_kev · 8/10 · 15 June 2005]

Two hit men (Riki Takeuchi and Sho Aikawa) cross paths while pulling off a job. They decide to run a playground and reminisce about their shared childhood. Quite a bit lighter in tone than the original "Dead or Alive" which the sequel has (apart from the same two lead actors) nothing in common with. When I say 'lighter in tone', I of course mean for a Takashi Miike film. This movie is more about the wonders and joys of children growing up, not yet jaded by how the world really is. Fans of Miike's bizarreness won't be disappointed with it either. I myself like this film more then the first one and is superbly acted.

My Grade: B+

DVD Extras: Theatrical Trailer; and Trailers for "Dead or Alive" "Dead or Alive Final", "Sharkskin and Peach Hip Girl" and "Junk Food"

Worth a watch

[D00003385 · 7/10 · 3 May 2005]

Like pretty much every single film that i have seen by this director, this film is worth a watch. There have been times when i realise that i have a penchant for this kind of film and therefore possibly i can enjoy it more than most. Also i enjoy subtitles, and make an effort to understand what is going on..

You should ignore 'Dave Godin's' complaints about the film having UNSUBTLE SYMBOLISM and the characters being ROLE MODELS FOR ARMCHAIR NERDS. I think he is missing the whole point of this series of films and obviously has a sandy vagina - otherwise he wouldn't complain so avidly!

I wouldn't recommend watching this film if you haven't really seen any other stuff similar to it - it is not one of the best! (I say this having not seen it for quite a while) 'Gozu' is probably a better comedy and 'The Agitator' or 'Shinjuku Triad Society' are much better serious films.

Also before trying to rip to shreds Asian movies like this, Old Boy & others, i think you guys should take the initial decision NOT TO WATCH THE FILMS IN THE FIRST PLACE and stick to the films that you know you will like... Star Wars episode III is out 19/05/05 so pre-order your tickets and forget that Takashi Miike ever existed!

A superior film to the first

[Leofwine_draca · 6/10 · 5 January 2018]

BIRDS is the second part of Takashi Miike's DEAD OR ALIVE trilogy and a superior film to the first. This one sees the main two actors from the original returning in new roles, playing a pair of assassins who meet and realise that they were childhood friends. They give up their violent ways and instead head off to a bucolic island where they spent glorious summers as children, but the violent past is due to catch up with them. This time around the main characters are actually likeable to a degree, and Miike's direction feels more confident and assured. There are still the sexual and bad taste situations, but they're integrated into the story better. The highlight of the film is a great set-piece sequence which juxtaposes a school-set pantomime with the usual bloody Yakuza shoot-outs and slayings. The more offbeat elements of the story work well too and the ending is cleverly written.

One of Takashi Miike's most realistic, nostalgic and appeasing movies

[kluseba · 7/10 · 18 June 2017]

Just like Rainy Dog, the second instalment in Takashi Miike's Black Society trilogy, the second part of Dead or Alive is the most introspective part of the trilogy. It's essentially a drama carried by two superb lead actors with Sho Aikawa and Riki Takeuchi who develop great chemistry on screen, elaborates on the characters' identities in a harmonious and nostalgic vibe and features exotic natural landscapes on a remote island that contrast the big city life and define the smooth atmosphere of this movie. The movie is surprisingly relaxing for a Takashi Miike film without getting completely rid of the filmmaker's quirky trademark scenes. The brief moments of violence and sexual innuendo are probably even more efficient because they are quite short and concise this time.

Dead or Alive 2: Birds opens and closes with Takashi Miike's excessive action sequences but the main part of this film focuses on the character development of two contract killers who realize they have grown up together and been childhood friends and who decide to work as a team for a good cause in order to rid the world of pitiless criminals and donate their money to buy vaccines for children in developing countries. Aside of the facts that both movies focus on Japanese crime syndicates and its associates and that both movies feature the same main actors, this film is completely different from the first movie in terms of atmosphere, characters and story. Aside of a few experiments with flashbacks and some minor religious symbolism, this is also one of Takashi Miike's most realistic movies.

It's possible to dismiss the quirky first part and adore the more mature second part but it wouldn't be surprising to dislike the first movie for its exaggeration and the second one for its realism. Personally, I appreciate both movies for what they are but have a preference for the first part because I thought it was addicting from start to finish while the second instalment had a few minor length in the middle section. Takashi Miike fans should watch and purchase all three parts of the excellent Dead or Alive trilogy anyway.

Can he do that?

[djores · 9/10 · 7 December 2005]

Miike's fans are usually disappointed by this movie for it certainly lacks in violence and entertainment value. However it more than makes up in subtlety - it's nuanced to the point of lyricism. Who would expect that Miike can spin a tale of a quest for the lost innocence of childhood (soccer games in the rain, sharing bowls of noodles on the ferry, full turtle/lion costumes for a kindergarten play) and still sell it as a sequel to the yakuza audience? Yes, you could read it as cheesy and boring, but then again you could say the same about that other "angel" movie - 'Wings of Desire'. The two characters follow the 'given a second chance at life' path, blazing a trail of "benevolent" executions that add up to nothing. If 'DOA' is the incessant present (with its avalanche of impressions updated at a rate high above the processing limit), and 'DOA Final' is the ironic future of Malthusian power politics, then 'DOA2' is the trip in the past at an impossibly high cost.

Quite different venture from Miike

[scobbah · 7/10 · 9 April 2006]

Dead Or Alive 2 isn't the regular sequel one might expect it to be. Remember, we're dealing with Miike here-and-frankly, this is so weird that it's hard to really claim it to be a sequel at all. The two main characters from the first piece are being kept here and they both make a great performance here.

The story itself is being brought to life by two contract killers who happen to stumble on each other, who turn out to be friends from childhood. Miike ventures into a quite different visual plot, following both the actual Yakuza violence taking place in Tokyo whilst the story's two protagonists are residing on an island in the countryside where they were brought up. I guess I have to see it one more time to really make up my mind about things, but the first impression was neat, as always with Miike. The landscapes and views being exposed in this film is simply amazing and while the thrills of violence aren't numbering as much as in its prequel, there's a good weight put here to comedy and humor instead. Thumbs up. Can't wait to see the final in the trilogy.

Another great movie from Takashi Miike

[simon_booth · 9/10 · 12 January 2003]

Dead Or Alive 2 is a name only sequel to Takashi Miike's breakout Yakuza movie Dead Or Alive. Lead actors Show Aikawa and Riki Takeuchi made such a good impression together in the original that they just had to be brought back for another round, but here they play different characters in far different circumstances, in a movie that is very different from its predecessor. In fact, it's pretty different from any other movie I can think of, which is an accomplishment that Takashi Miike seems able to produce time and time again.

The DVD case tries to sell the movie as an ultra-violent gross out pic, which Takashi Miike is certainly capable of producing (and which DOA 1 was to a degree). In fact this is rather a misrepresentation. There are a few scenes of violence, and they are typically extreme, but they are few and far between, and really just serve as a backdrop for a fairly mannered and whimsical character driven drama.

Show Aikawa and Riki Takeuchi grew up together in an orphanage on a remote Japanese island, where they had good times and were the best of friends. But Show Aikawa is taken away to Osaka as a teen, and the boys do not see each other until many years later when they are both grown men. They meet up again on the island where they grew up, both on the run from the Yakuza. They chat, play games and contemplate what life has made of them.

DOA 2 has certain similarities with Takeshi Kitano's brilliant Sonatine, as gangsters are forced to take Time Out in an idyllic location and regress towards childhood. Miike makes the movie his own though, and the characters in particular stand out as unique and surprisingly likeable. The movie is usually billed as a comedy, and there are many very funny moments, but there's an underlying tenderness and melancholy behind it all too. It's a movie that definitely has the "heart" that Miike movies are sometimes (unjustly) accused of lacking.

Show Aikawa undoubtedly steals the show from co-star Riki Takeuchi this time around, being far more animated and interesting. Takeuchi is brilliantly deadpan and stoic, but that doesn't work as well for him in this movie as many of his others. Both actors make their characters believable and engage the audience in their fates well though. Look out for an absolutely brilliant cameo from director Shinya Tsukamoto too.

DOA 2 is another uniquely Miike movie, full of little moments and details that showcase that imagination and intellect which I dare say are unparalleled in modern cinema. It's a much less stylised movie than DOA 1, but probably more substantial, probably more rewatchable. A highly recommended movie.

Bursts of Miike-like violence punctuate – get this – a quietly moving film about friendship and nostalgia!

[ThreeSadTigers · 2 January 2008]

Dead or Alive (1999) was a straight to video police/Yakuza cross-over that opened with a rock-video style montage and climaxed with a scene of jaw-dropping implausibility. It took on the clichés and characteristics of the usual police dramas that we're familiar with but infused them with all manner of bold and brash directorial flourishes and much in the way of attention grabbing shock sequences; from the sight of a stripper drowned in a paddling pool of excrement, to a vicious gun battle that brings about the end of the world. This follow up - which takes the same lead actors from the first DOA and drops then into a whole new setting as entirely new characters (giving us a sequel in the thematic sense alone) - tones down much of the first film's explicit giddiness in favour of a richer story with humanity, empathy and depth.

As a result, those new to the films of maverick director Miike Takashi might find this semi-sequel/follow up to be something of an understandable departure from the typically brash and attention grabbing style put forward in his more widely seen films, such like Ichi the Killer and Visitor Q (both 2001). Those with some familiarity however will be aware of Miike's more sensitive side from films like The Bird People in China (1998), Rainy Dog (1997), White Collar Worker Kintaro (2000) and the Great Yokai War (2005); which are certainly not troubling the 'Disney' studio when it comes to wholesome family entertainment, but at least show Miike to be a filmmaker capable of blending his tendencies for over-the-top action and cinematic excess, alongside emotional depth and intelligent character development. Hell, even parts of the violent Yakuza epic Agitator (2001) and the first hour of his masterpiece Audition (1999) show a director capable of dealing with fully formed three-dimensional characters and a slow-building story that drags you in.

Like those films, Dead or Alive 2 offers bursts of the typical Miike-like violence to punctuate what is essentially a quietly moving film about friendship and nostalgia, focusing as it does on the characters Mizuki (Sho Aikawa) and Sawada (Riki Takeuchi), childhood friends that grew up together in an idyllic island orphanage, who find themselves, after many years of not seeing each other, hit men hired to assassinate the same man. What follows is a combination of routine Yakuza crime drama - as the inevitable gang war erupts between two warring factions of Yakuza looking for answers as to who sanctioned the hit (and why?) - and a lyrical coming of age story - as the two men eventually find their way back to the island where they first met and meet up with old friends and reminisce about days when life was much more simple. The juxtaposition between these two worlds is handled perfectly by Miike, who shoots the film through the eyes of his child characters, even when we're in the company of their adult counterparts. This gives us a film that is visually unique; rich in colour and filled with surreal abstractions and over-exaggerations, some of which are disturbing in their darkly-comic absurdity.

Some of it aims to shock as much as the first DOA, with one sequence showing dead bodies being molested by a couple of hoods, while one sequence shows a dead body with an exaggeratedly large penis. Once again, Miike indulges in his love of playing around with Japanese censorship issues (ala, Visitor Q and Agitator) by partially blurring out the offending image; which would have been enough to render the joke useless had the appendage in question not been the size of a tree trunk (literally). The joke is repeated again during one of the film's key sequences, in which Mizuki and Sawada entertain the kids at the orphanage with a slightly lewd and colourful pantomime performance that is inter-cut with an incredibly violent gun battle that erupts between the two warring gangs. Other scenes are just as memorable and less shocking; such as the beautiful sequence in which Mizuki and Sawada spend the day with their old orphan friend Kôhei (who has stayed on the island as a fisherman and now lives the good life with his childhood sweetheart Noriko), climbing fences, playing football and generally running wild in the rain.

The later part of the film is more surreal and enigmatic, with the duo returning to the mainland and becoming hit men for "good"; taking down mob bosses and donating the money they steal to charity. They even grow angel's wings (tying itself into an old childhood memory and relating to the "birds" of the title) and envision themselves as children blowing away these corrupted grown-ups. The film even has a great supporting performance from cult Japanese film maker Shinya Tsukamoto (Tetsuo, Tokyo Fist, A Snake of June) as a magician who sets the wheels of the story in motion; recalling his similar appearance in Miike's earlier film, Ichi the Killer (2001). Dead or Alive 2: Birds, for me takes everything that we love about Takashi Miike's particular style and combines it with a story that works and characters that we can believe in. This, for me, is easily the best of the DOA trilogy, and a minor-masterpiece to rank alongside the likes of Shinjuku Triad Society (1996), Audition (1999), Gozu (2003), Visitor Q (2001) and The Bird People in China (1996).

Different, but the same

[Polaris_DiB · 7/10 · 22 April 2009]

This movie's relationship with the previous film in the series is sort of like any Miike movie in relationship to his oeuvre--entirely different, and yet very clearly similar. The same general style as Dead or Alive is in show here, including minor details like weapons springing out of people's backs and the relationship of two men acting under righteous fury (though this time they're on the same instead of opposing sides). Otherwise, it might as well not have the same title, because the building Yakuza suspense of the previous film is set aside for something more closely resembling a comic book superhero movie. It would be as if Godfather II was actually The Boondock Saints. Of course, Godfather I didn't finish with the world ending, so of course they had much more to work with in terms of a sequel, there.

Other than that, I almost don't know what else to say about it that I haven't already said a dozen other times in other Miike movies I've reviewed. I'm up to 22 movies (that's, like, a quarter of his total output to date) of his, and every single one of them is a unique experience even though they all show off his amazing idiosyncratic style. As much as this movie is not related to the previous one in story or characters, I still highly recommend seeing the first one before, as it is one of his most stand-out works.

--PolarisDiB

Disappointing

[loganx-2 · 4/10 · 9 July 2007]

A little too ridiculous for me, rival hit men discover they are long lost friends and team up to do a big score which they plan to donate to African children in order to make up for bad karma. It's just overwrought with non developed ideas and cliché's which the direction no matter how novel, as Takashi Miike always is, could not redeem. The stock home video footage of the lead characters as children was an overused device, eliciting feelings of boredom as opposed to the sentiment it is intended to evoke. There's not enough action or character analysis here to make this film anything but an exercise from Miike, which while I'm sure was a good workout for him, leaves the viewer with little else to say, except it was kinda neat when the character's sprouted wings, a non too subtle metaphor for their rebirth as "heroes". I've sat patiently through many of Miike's ingenious works, and this is so far my least favorite.

Masterpiece!

[jtourbro · 10/10 · 23 October 2003]

I saw the other comment on under this movie, and simply had to write something. How can you not love this movie? Once again Miike masterfully blends a multitude of genres and uncompromisingly challenges his viewer. Dead or Alive 2 is, at its core, a humanistic drama, which is definetely not what fans of the first one came to expect. Instead of choosing the easy way forward (not that there was an easy way left after the first one) and simply remaking the first movie, he has changed everything to the delight and surprise of the viewer. In the beginning it appears to be simply another Yakuza flick with no connection to the first one (except for Sho Aikawa and Riki Takeuchi), but quickly you realise that this is something completely different. It is a warm tale about childhood friendship, and since everything is seen through childrens eyes, the movie is filled with magic and wonderous moments, leaving you truly uplifted and touched to the bottom of your soul. Who would've thought?

10/10

Dead or Alive 2: Birds Review.

[Ben-Hibburd · 7/10 · 4 December 2017]

Dead or Alive 2: Birds is a film about two disconnected childhood friends that grew up to be hit men. After an assassination of a Yakuza boss, which they were both involved with leads to a massive gang war. They cross each others paths when they find themselves returning to their roots on a small island where they grew up together. Whilst laying low from the cops and Mafia they begin to reminisce on their childhoods growing up together.

This film has absolutely nothing to do with the original film other then carrying similar thematic elements, and it can be watched separately (which I would recommend). And just like Miike's Black Society trilogy I found the sequel again to be vast improvement over it's predecessor. Just as Miike did with Rainy Dog, he dramatically tones down the over the top silly antics that he's built his reputation on, and instead delivered a mellow, nuanced character piece. Although that's not to say all the violence he's known for is absent because it's not. What the film does is show the consequence of violence and how one act of violence can start a chain of events that spiral out of control.

Miike also does an excellent job developing his two lead characters, they both have distinct personalities and reasons for why they do what they do. By the end of the film I even started to care for them, which isn't something I can say for many of Miike's characters.

Dead or Alive 2 is easily one of Miike's best films, the plot and characters are all well thought-out, and whilst it does teeter on the edge of silliness towards the end. Miike manages to reign himself in and deliver an excellent crime drama.

Boring and pretentious

[Dave Godin · 2/10 · 15 December 2002]

I'd be hard pressed to cite a more achingly boring and pretentious movie that this one, and for the life of me, I fail to see how or why Miike Takashi seems to have garnered such a cult reputation in some quarters. Full of ponderous longeurs which no doubt are meant to register as pregnant with meaning; characters that are maudlin when they are not just plain wooden, and the constant use of `symbolism' that is about as subtle as a sledge-hammer blow to the head, it is one of those films that has you asking yourself `when will it ever end?'.

No doubt the `heroes' in these films are the macho role-models that armchair nerds wish they had become, which perhaps gives a clue as to why these films seem to appeal to the `intelligentsia', but suffice to say when these guys aren't setting their faces into masks of grimness or wallowing in self-pitying nostalgia, they just strut around wearing shades, and walking as if they have pin cushions in their underpants.

Mercifully, apart from a very brief glimpse of necrophilia, this film is, in the main, bereft of the cruelty and calculated shock values of Takashi's other movies, so hopefully he has by now perhaps exhausted this apparent obsession with continually upping the stakes and `going further than any film-maker before has dared to go', although advance reports of his latest film would perhaps suggest otherwise.

Overall, this film has all the intense, eager, over-earnestness, (and yes, calculated `naughtiness'), of something made on a Boy Scouts' camp as part of a vocational work project. Witless, charmless and pretentious nonsense, masquerading as quality, heavy-weight, head stuff.

The Bird Hit men of Tokyo

[chaos-rampant · 20 June 2008]

You'd be hard pressed to find a sequel more different than the original than DOA 2: Birds. It is not connected with the original in terms of plot although the same actors reprise similar roles. It reminds of the style of the original in certain places, however it's overall a sweeter, more heart-warming movie embedded with sudden bursts of violence. The plot is simple but very effective. Two hit men find themselves on the run after doing a hit on a local yakuza family. It turns out they are actually childhood friends and they go back to the island they grew up to hide from the police and vengeful yakuzas that are looking for them. The first half of the movie is startlingly peaceful (coming from Miike of all people) carrying a sweet air of nostalgia as the yakuzas revert back to a state of childhood, fooling around like they used to when they were kids. Flashback shots only add to the touching, humane feeling. Loss of innocence can be a very manipulative theme but it is in very good hands here as Miike pulls it off surprisingly well.

But seeing as this is a Miike film, violence and psychotronic weirdness can't be totally absent now can it? Of course not. There are sudden bursts of violence that become all the more chilling as they are juxtaposed with the serene feeling that precedes them. Intercutting is used to great effect in a scene where Miike cuts back and forth between a bloodbath shootout between yakuzas and Chinese triads and the two hit men performing in a small stageplay for children back at their island. There's almost a surreal quality to it as we see Riki Takeuchi bumping around in a big lion suit.

I have to say that Miike had the opportunity to make a great drama at the point where the true identity of the two hit men is discover by the pregnant wife of their childhood friend. But Miike being Miike, he simply refuses to play it straight. Instead the second half of the film is weirder, more confused (and slightly confusing) in tone but goes the extra mile to add to what makes DOA2 such a unique experience. Certain scenes such as a Mexican standoff that involves a midget and three hired goons that only communicate with each other through cell phones are as mind-boggling as they are awesome. Or what about the wife that discovers her TV star husband dead and hugs his giant penis (it's pixilated, so prudes have nothing to worry about) with forlorn sadness? And I haven't even mentioned our two hit men donating the money they get from whacking people to pay for vaccines for children in Africa. In the end it's Miike through and through.

If the comparison has to be made, the verdict is that DOA2 is simply different than its predecessor. Personally speaking I enjoyed it slightly more. It lacks the anything goes insanity of the first but makes up for it in other ways. There IS action to be found, it's just not the main attraction. Instead it's a weird, poignant, touching, occasionally violent film aimed more at the heart and soul than the gut.

Miike's take on a buddy movie

[p-stepien · 7/10 · 29 August 2012]

Miike relapsing back into yakuza based story lines churns out, what is conceivably an antithesis to DOA Hanzaisha, relatively almost bereft of gore, sexual innuendo and over the top violence. 'Almost' for Miike does entail having sex with corpses, children plays with fake dildos or horribly disfigured faces, so it does offer its share of unabashed brutality. Nonetheless unlike the first part, which was channelling the story with a plethora of ideas, dark humour and violence, this time around we get a more sombre character story revolving around two killers: Mizuki Okamoto (Shô Aikawa) and Shuuichi Sawada (Riki Takeuchi).

On a highly paid job to kill a Yakuza boss in order to initiate a Yakuza / Triad gang was Mizuki is surprisingly cut to the chase by Shu, a former friend with whom he grew up with on a remote island orphanage. No harm done, no love lost the two reunite and travel down to where they used to be best buds to take time out from grim reality and delve in picturesque countryside locations.

For a movie featuring cartoonish gags like pulling out an enormous brick from behind your back "DOA: Birds" belies all expectations creating in the opening act, when it slowly transgresses from being a yakuza thriller to a buddy flick drama with surprising emotional pull. Albeit based on an overly convoluted, somewhat symbolic script, which makes repeated watches almost a necessity, it builds relations between characters much better than almost any Miike movie. Both Mizuki and Shu are less of a joke and more true dramatic protagonists, even if Miike is unable to refrain from some goofing around (much appreciated and surprisingly tactfully done). Nonetheless the elements of gore and blood do seem out of place and forced, as if the director's style got the better of him and he was unable to refrain from adding a couple odd borderline scenes.

As the first part saw the world destroyed when opposing forces collide, this time around the black and white birds cooperate with other at one time killing evil by performing evil for the benefit of doing good (a minus and a minus make a plus?), eventually garnering the status of avenging angels. Even they however are not invincible, when furious adversaries bring death, but unlike in the first part death is more heartfelt, cathartic and meaningful, also due to deep relations between the dying men. The shoot-out finale is especially gripping - a shot of five corpses of boys lying dead on a rooftop, suggesting that violence is nothing more than childish behaviour by lost grown-ups, necessary but so banale and basic in nature. A telling broader explanation to the reasons between Miike's graphic comic and cartoon influenced grotesque brutality?

Nonetheless much lighter in tone, poetic and more emotional than the other DOA movies and the absurdist dramatism may make it the best of the trilogy contentwise, even if severely flawed with certain aspects of its presentation.

bizarre

[trashgang · 6/10 · 5 July 2012]

Picks in with a summary of part 1 and moves further into bizarre and strange situations with again parts that you love and parts you will hate. A lot of talking and still not a typical Miiki gore flick. It's again more for the fans of Yatterman (2009).

I can understand that Miiki fans love this but again this wasn't really a thing I liked. Although, again, nudity and red stuff is available it had a bit too much blah blah in it. But the acting saved the flick. If you think that this is one for gorehounds then you are wrong. But if Run and Kill (1993) is your move than watch this.

Gore 1/5 Nudity 1/5 Effects 2/5 Story 3/5 Comedy 1/5

a crime film that focuses more on the personal side of the hit-man, of innocence shattered, and the possibility for redemption

[Quinoa1984 · 8/10 · 24 March 2007]

Takashi Miike's Dead or Alive 2: Birds is loaded with allegory and symbolism, some that works (like having feathers continually popping up from time to time in the midst of murders, or the sometimes mentioned comet representing wonder in the unknown) and some that doesn't (the re-appearances of the wings on the backs of Mizuki and Shu, and the over-usage of archive clips of impoverished people in Africa to emphasize the two hit men's end goal to donate all their money to that). But at the core Miike has a very thematically rich film, where the insanity, shame and/or brutality of bloodshed and violence and death are contrasted with what comes before people go down the path of crime- childhood.

It's maybe that one is given sight to bloody scenes in person as a child, as Mizuki does when he sees his step-father dying on the bathroom floor dialing on the phone (one of the great images in the film). Or it's just that there doesn't seem to be much of a choice, or out of convenience, it's hard to say. Miike isn't out for easy answers anyway, but after a sort of bizarre meditation on the loss of the innocence we all have in youth, and how it can become uglier and without meaning. It's also, on top of this, a very good story of friendship and ties that bind that friendship going beyond professional duty or consequence.

Mizuki and Shu, played by Riki Takeuchi and Sho Aikawa, also from the first DOA (however not connected by character or plot, only in part by mood), are hit men for a hire, and Mizuki, who hasn't seen Shu in many years, witnesses him kill a bunch of gangsters that he was supposed to fire on with a sniper. He follows him, and it leads the both of them, as they're in hiding for suspected/actual murders and money stolen, to the island of their youth. We see flashbacks of said childhood, of fun playing on the beach (a sweet gag, uncommon for Miike, is when one of the kids is buried in the sand and the other kids run away), but also the pain of separating and finding violence among them, like with Mizuki. Nostalgia comes back tenfold, as they reunite with another old friend, and Miike actually crafts sentimental scenes in this middle chunk that work, somehow, because they don't feel very cheap. Then, as if trying to cleanse themselves of their old crime-syndicate ways, they work at a playground helping out kids, and they even put on a demented play involving goofy innuendo with Cinderella and various animals.

This play scene is juxtaposed with the sprawling yakuza/triad warfare that breaks out back at home, and it's here that Miike has not only, for my money, the best sequence of the film, but one of his best sequences to date. The play Mizuzki, Shu and the others put on is immature and a little crude, but shown to be all the more innocent and playful when compared to the manic, multiple murders that occur between the two gangs, as bullets fly, blood flows, and bodies contort all over the place as neither side really comes out victorious, or with many members left. It's Miike leashing out his wicked, no-holds-barred style, but also the goodness on the other side of the coin, and it doesn't get much better for a fan like myself. On the other hand, Dead or Alive 2, following this sequence, gets weirder by the minute, and sometimes not always for the best. With the focused narrative flow given for the Mizuki/Shu story, where they decide to come back to the mainland and keep going with their killings for money in un-selfish reasons, there's another subplot involving, I'd guess, the other killers out to kill them. But it comes off muddled, and even with Miike going for enjoyably crazy images like a midget walking on stilts, or the fate of a character named Jiro, it suddenly felt as if Miike was getting off track of what was working best.

But if anything, DOA 2 tops the first one by delivering the goods on substance just as well as the style. Miike is always out for experimentation, with his editing and transitions and usage of a symbolic inter-title "Where are you Going". And isn't above getting some touching last scenes with Mizuki and Shu on the boat (Takeuchi, by the way, is one of Miike's best actors), even if it feels very sudden, that could be forced by another director but through him feel compassionate to their doom. While Miike and his screenwriter don't quite get deep enough to make this a great film about lifelong criminal friends, and he's still into getting laughs out of depraved acts of violence and bizarre sex (i.e. that giant penis in a couple of scenes), it's surely one of the better yakuza movies I've yet to see to go past its limitations and make it a movie where the main characters aren't just cardboard cut-outs meant for shouting dialog and dying at a clip.

An Okay Follow-Up

[gavin6942 · 6/10 · 13 April 2017]

Two contract killers cross paths on the same job and realize they are childhood friends. Together they take a break from killing and visit the small island they once called home. After reflecting on their past lives they decide to team up and use their talents in killing for good... upsetting the crime syndicates they used to work for.

This film is far sillier than the first, with special effects that make this have almost science fiction qualities (which were absent from part one other than the final shot and maybe a few minutes leading up to that). Is it supposed to be a fantasy of sorts? With Miike, you never really know.

Perhaps the most bizarre "fantasy" element in the entire film is the inclusion of footage of starving African children. Apparently this is to symbolize that by taking on the bad guys, those in need will now be saved. This is, of course, pretty much nonsense if you think killing a mob boss somehow helps starving children in Africa. And using actual footage rather than actors seems a bit insensitive. But again, Miike does not really concern himself with making sure his audience is not offended.

"Dead or Alive 2" is a sequel in name only, with its only obvious connection to the first film being the return of the lead actors. Because they are playing different roles, it does not seem to make sense to give this film the same title. But Tom Mes does find there to be a thematic connection. As he notes, "The ethnic rootlessness... is replaced here by the genealogical rootlessness of the orphaned child." True enough, though with rootlessness being a common Miike theme, this does not make the "Dead or Alive" series unique in that way.

Although Arrow Video had Tom Mes record commentary for all three "Black Society" films and the first "Dead or Alive", he mysteriously does not provide commentary on parts two and three of "Dead or Alive". In fact, the special features seem to be primarily focused on the first film, which is a bit of a shame (even if we can all agree it is the most iconic of the series).

One of Miike's greatest achievements

[zetes · 10/10 · 22 May 2005]

Yes, it's another yakuza movie (well, close enough, anyway), but, like all of Miike's crime movies, it has its own flavor. Two rival hit men (Miike regulars Sho Aikawa and Riki Takeuchi) discover that they're old friends. They were raised together in the same orphanage. In the first half of the film, the two travel back to the small island where they grew up. In the second half, they return to Tokyo as partners, avenging angels who donate their blood money to charity. The film is a powerful story of lost innocence and rediscovered friendship. Miike creates many stunning sequences, including a gorgeous montage where the two men entertain children with a play while the film cross-cuts to a gang war, the fruit of their wicked labor. And then the final sequence is just beautiful, managing to be both enormously touching and humorous. It's a great flick, and, if anyone is interested in getting to know the director, not a bad place at all to start (it has absolutely nothing to do with the first Dead or Alive movie, either).

mysterious with magic acts and surreal moments

[christopher-underwood · 8/10 · 4 July 2019]

In no way, other than name, is this a sequel to the previous years, Dead or Alive. We have the same two main actors but here, Sho Aikawa and Riki Takeuchi play different characters who come together after a big gangland hit to, basically, reminisce about their childhood together. There is fierce violence but this has gentle and reflective periods, that reminds one more of Takeshi Kitano's Sonatine than the more usual Miike product. Indeed, whilst this is not easy to follow, with its flashbacks and incomplete tales, it is further made mysterious with magic acts and surreal moments. Nevertheless a likeable film with amazing visuals, just not all of exploding body parts.

Miike has done it again

[quinolas · 8/10 · 29 November 2001]

-THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS-

Miike Takashi, once again, has surprised everyone. He has created a sequel that has nothing to do with its predecessor. The main characters are still played by the same actors, Aikawa So and Takeuchi Riki, but their roles are very different. Here they play long separated boyhood friends who meet again when Takeuchi assassinates a racketeer Aikawa has been hired to shoot. Wanted by the Japanese Yakuza and the Chinese Triad they returned to their hometown, an island in the South of Japan. There, they meet another long time friend Kohei, played Endo Kenichi, who is now married. Through flashbacks we get to know about their childhood, which was spent in the local orphanage run by Japanese Christian priest. Contact with the present children of the orphanage makes them take the decision of going back to the main island and work as professional killers. The money they will get will be used to buy vaccines for the children in the Third World.

There are only a couple of references to the first part. One happens when Aikawa, surrounded by Chinese gangsters, pulls out a brick from his back. The other during a play for the children of the orphanage where Aikawa, dressed up as a kappa (a mythical Japanese creature, a hybrid between a man and a tortoise) has a cyborg arm. These scenes recall the amazing ending of DOA.

Compared to its predecessor DOA 2: birds is quite a light film, to Miike Takashi's standards, in its dealing of violence. Violence, Miike Takashi's style, doesn't appear until the second half of the film. Takashi has become a cult figure for taking violence to extremes and mixing it with dark humour. In Europe he has become immensely popular thanks to films like Audition, the mention Dead Alive and pretty soon Ichi the Killer, which I am sure will become a cult film soon. Even though Miike Takashi has said in many interviews he doesn't give much thought to his films that doesn't mean that they are just purely entertainment. What many seem to overlook, maybe due to their fascination with violence, is that Miike Takashi's films contain some interesting themes, recognising the existence of certain attitudes. For example attitudes towards sex. In DOA was bestiality (actually the making of those sort of films), Shinjuku Triad Society abounds in gay sex, Ichi the Killer and Audition deal with sadomasochism. In DOA 2: Birds we get a quick glimpse at necrophilia. Takashi acknowledges the existence of these sexual practices without criticising them whether perverse, sexist or politically incorrect

Whereas the beginning of DOA is a relentless bombardment of images of drugs sex and violence DOA 2: BIRDS opts for a milder opening. Tsukamoto Shinya uses Chinese and Japanese (Mild Seven) packets of cigarettes to dramatise the struggle between Chinese and Japanese gangs. Tsukamoto crushes cigarettes representing gangsters being mowed down. That was certainly a blow to those who expected an opening similar to DOA. It is very funny though.

It is already known that Takashi likes challenging audiences and DOA 2, as said earlier, is a good example. Another challenging sequence is the above mentioned children's play which is intercut with shots of a fight between Chinese and Japanese gangs, this time for real. The play, even tough for children, is sexually explicit but absolutely hilarious too. The crosscutting between the fight and the play is so fast paced that you find yourself laughing at Aikawa displaying his penis-torch or Takeuchi, dressed up as lion, masturbating at the same as heads are chopped off and rolling on the floor or a dead woman being raped. Takashi seems to be teasing the audience as they realise they are laughing, and cannot stop, at the carnage on the screen. This makes it a very uncomfortable sequence to watch but very clever too.

Miike Takashi also seems to question the action of the hero when they decide to help children in the Third World and their recently gained status of angels (another Takashi's surprises in the film). Takeuchi vomits blood continually. The more he kills the more he vomits. To save children they have to kill gangsters (Aisakawa at one point says that the world is better off without them) who were once children too. This is done in a brilliant sequence at the end of the film. There is a showdown on a rooftop between Aikawa and Takeuchi and three gunmen. Both heroes, badly injured, are lying on the ground and see how the 3 gunmen changed into children pointing guns at them. Takeuchi stills has the strength to shot them death. The scene ends with a shot of five children laying dead on the rooftop covered in blood. This is a brilliant, persuasive, sad and poetic metaphor of why there should not be any killing for any reason.

Miike Takashi's films are not just entertaining but are loaded with ideas, which might no be fully developed due to his attitude to his material, but are nevertheless quite interesting and challenging.

Visionary,beautiful Ultra Violence.

[kaiserspike · 10/10 · 20 January 2004]

The Second part of Takashi Miike's Dead or Alive Trilogy.Its a beautifully shot film,with weird,video game elements thrown in,take it seriously and you'll enjoy it even more.Excellent characters and bad guys,bizarre cut scene and an and varied soundtrack seal the deal,for this often overlooked gem.

Yet again, the Miike formula...

[yucel81x · 18 March 2004]

The best way to describe Miike Takashi's style would be, "Don't expect anything." It's not even "Expect the unexpected" because most of the things we don't expect...are somewhat expected simply because it's hard to fathom what we haven't seen before that we would actually WANT to see. Who wants to actually see necrophilia in a film? Who wants to actually see children being subjected to enough sexual innuendo to give Mary Whitehouse a heart attack? Who wants to see a person left for dead and eaten away by flies? Nobody really thinks about those things, so even when people tell us to expect the unexpected, there are certain things we won't even consider. This gives Miike the perfect opportunity to completely screw with the audience's preconceptions on what is and is not acceptable in film. I stated in a review of "Dead or Alive: Hanzaisha" that Miike's use of shocking imagery plays with the audience not only by the shock itself, but by the banality of it. The characters in his films have little or no reaction much of the bizarre and crazy things that are happening around them. Their indifference translates to us in a sense...so what should be shocking becomes less shocking, and more confusing...and sometimes the confusion wears off too, to the point where we don't care, it's just par for the course. And in Miike's world, it is.

So here we have a sequel that is not really a sequel, at least not literally. "Dead or Alive 2: Tôbôsha" begins completely differently from its predecessor, so immediately the audience is confused. We thought we had Miike, or at least the "Dead or Alive" formula figured out, right? Wrong, here we begin not with a frenetic ultra-violent intro, we have a humorous little scenario about Chinese Triads vs. Japanese Yakuza being explained to hitman Otamoko Mizuki (Aikawa Sho, now sporting blond hair) by a magician ("Tetsuo" director Tsukamoto Shinya turning out a funny little cameo). Just as Mizuki is about to pull a hit, his job's done for him by one of the target's henchmen. He finds out that it was his childhood friend Sawada Shuichi. What ensues is a slow-paced trip down memory lane as the two return to the place where they grew up, meet up with another friend who stayed behind, and rediscover the innocence they lost so quickly. The two decide to return to Tokyo to pull off hits together, donating all their profits to vaccinate children in third-world nations.

Like the first film, "Dead or Alive 2: Tôbôsha" has a great deal of slow-pacing, with a great deal of beautiful scenery similar to Kitano "Beat" Takeshi's "Sonatine." While the action is not entirely lacking, it does not have the frenetic pace and hip-bizareness of "Dead or Alive: Hanzaisha." Instead, action scenes are played with a great deal of symbolism. There is a scene of a Yakuza/Triad gang war being interspersed with scenes of Mizuki and Shuichi performing a play for children (which is hilarious considering the abundant sexual innuendo in the play, but nobody apart from the players seems to get it...and the kids love it). There is a recurring motif of seeing the main characters as both adults and the children they once were, with the phrase "Where are you?" popping up occasionally. In the confusing, almost David Lynch-like ending, it changes to "Where are you going?" Does violence beget violence? Is innocence truly lost when we grow up? And is it ever truly too late to get it back?

Thematically, it's similar to "Dead or Alive: Hanzaisha," with both beckoning the question of what is acceptable and unacceptable in human behavior, and is there ever a point to give up? The recurring element in both movies is that of whether or not to quit. The question seems to be answered with a resounding "no." None of the characters quit, and in the end, it ultimately destroys them, for better or for worse. Is "Dead or Alive 2: Tôbôsha" any less confusing and any less "what the hell?" then its prequel? No, but while one relies on ultra-violence and attitude, the second one relies on emotions and symbolism. Two different approaches to what ultimately are the same themes. Aside from this and the actors, there's not much of a connection between the first and second "Dead or Alive" films, but...hey, it's thoughtful storytelling, Miike-style.

Brilliant!!!

[The3Extremes · 10/10 · 7 October 2005]

Takashi Miike has a winning streak - all of his films are addictively superb! This sequel to the 1999 ultra violent gangster film is toning down on the violence (I mean toning down on the frequency of the violence, upping the scale.) and is more a film about friendship,death and rebirth. The 2 main characters from dead or alive are back playing 2 childhood friends who grew up together in an orphanage and got separated when they left. Since then they have never seen or heard from each other and strangely they've both become hit men. Even more strange is that they've both been hired to hit the same guy - at the same place - at the same time. one takes the hit before the other but the other takes the money for it anyway. They eventually meet and decide to rid the Earth of evil - they find a guy who hires hit men, they do the job, get the money and donate it to the 3rd world countries that have no money for vaccines or food.

In the middle of the film the pair take part in a play, meanwhile, outside the theatre, the triad vs yakuza war (that was started by the duo in the first place)is preparing - my favourite ever ultra violent action sequence in a movie!! The war is shot incredibly realistically and is extremely violent people are shot 8 times in a row and then kicked and punched and slashed with swords.

My favourite Takashi Miike film 10 out of 10.