
Let me tell you, this one works almost as well as The Lost Boys.
Movie like crows zero movie#
And yet, all the while, one can’t help but picture these boys five years from now, in college, talking about that one really weird summer they got caught up in a supernatural turf war.Īnytime I’m stuck in a movie brimming with testosterone, I like to entertain myself by playing a game of “spot the subtext,” where you look out for hints of not-so-hetero motivations inside a supposedly macho flick. These guys don’t travel in groups, they move in hordes, every class leader making his entrance flanked by his own personal army of hooligans. What could be called a leisurely pace is slowed to a dead crawl as somber men in black suits discuss the goings on at Suzuran and schoolboys in leather jackets brood on rooftops like Batman. But at some point the film starts taking itself very seriously, as if suddenly realizing the consequences of thug life. The first hour is pretty fun, with big acting and the outrageous potential of the material stretched to its breaking point. But the film’s biggest problem is that it’s lopsided. Plus, the two-hour runtime is a pretty big turn off. I love Takashi Miike’s work, but I’ve purposefully stayed away from his fighting movies because it’s just not my thing–I’m deathly allergic to macho dudebro posturing. All the while, the local gang lords (including Genji’s father) are watching to see who comes out alive. New student Genji is keen on becoming class president, but before he can get there he must ascend through the ranks of class leaders (that is, kick all the ass) before squaring off with the toughest guy in school, Serizawa. Suzuran doubles as a recruiting pool for the yakuza, so bad behavior is almost like building a resume. Any hint of academia is long gone from the halls of the all-boys institution though, as there isn’t a teacher in sight and the school seems to be run by various gangs divided by grade. Suzuran is only a school in the loosest sense of the word, in that it’s a building that houses children during the day. Set in a dystopia where teenagers run amok and adolescent turf wars determine the city’s fate, Crows Zero is the aspiring bad boy’s wet dream. We all find ourselves through film in our own ways. For others, there were swaggering action stars rippling with muscles and attitude. I was attracted to morose indoor kids lacking social skills but brimming with hidden artistic genius and great taste in music. Plenty of my favorite movies became so precisely because they fed into my ego-driven teenage fantasies of how I saw myself. That is to say, I’m not a fourteen year old boy. Right up front, I should be honest and say I am not the audience for this movie. Starring: Shun Oguri, Takayuki Yamada, Kenichi Endo, Kyosuke Yabe A transfer student attempts to take over the most violent high school in the country, whose students form factions and battle each other for power.
