VividSimon Simply Perfect

Bluebell Alcock Ok... Let's be honest. It cannot be the best movie but is quite enjoyable. The movie has the potential to develop a great plot for future movies

Ava-Grace Willis Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

Kien Navarro Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

Bene Cumb Japanese values and approaches are rather different from the Western ones, and as regards scripts, they often focus on a single thing rather than create a varied story. Here, the events take place in and around a school of male delinquents, but the only topic is achieving power through battling, no references to teaching and learning, youngsters' hobbies, their parents, etc. Inclusion of a female seems odd and provides no additional value, yakuza themes could have been avoided as well. Characters' names are often confusing, types are similar, often was the clothing that helped to determine the different gang leaders... Shun Oguri as Takiya Genji was distinguishable, but still - high school boys were played by actors almost 25 years old, so their looks was in contrast with immature behaviour and plain intentions. Fights are visually catchy, but rather unrealistic as they resulted in a visible blood only, no broken bones or teeth.An okay film if you are a guy and like intense fights and constant struggling for imaginary power. Otherwise, skip to Desu Nōto and Batoru Rowaiaru.

Angelus2 Suzuran High is not your average high school, Suzuran High is home to the worst of the worst students in the city, were your fighting skills are the only thing worth celebrating. Genji is the son of a Yakuza boss and desperately wants to show his father he is just as capable as his father and perhaps even better...But in order to be the King of Suzuran, he must defeat Serizawa another student who is on his way to becoming the King with a fierce army. Genji must not only fight but work on his leadership and strategy to unite classes in order to match Serizawa's might...Fotunatly for him, he has an ex-Suzuran graduate and low level Yakuza for a tutor. Let the war begin! I describe this as 'Godfather with fight scenes' and in essence thats what it is, a weaker version of the American gangster classic, but this film is more concerned with showing brutal fight scenes. If gritty brutal action scenes is your fancy, then this film will deliver in fine fashion, the fight scenes are very realistic. The actors are all good in their roles, although I feel that there are certain actors such as Meisa Kuroki who appear to be simply used as eye candy...someone who could have been used to a greater degree.Yes, there are tons of plot holes, unexplored and deserted characters in this film, but in my honest opinion it is perhaps one of the most exciting and well done fight films of all time...and when I say Fight films, I don't mean 'Kung-Fu', I mean a 'Fight film'. There are some brilliant scenes in which the classes make that 'walk' and it genuinely does excite.This in my opinion is the 'Godfather of Fight Films'.

MisterWhiplash Takashi Miike is an extraordinary filmmaker, even if he works sometimes in circumstances that other directors might find ordinary, such as all of the genres that Miike tackles... which are, by a mild estimation, almost all of them. Name a kind of movie, Miike's probably done it, from family movie to samurai epic to just totally f***ed up way-past X-rated stuff, not to mention all of the Yakuza crime movies that by this time should be coming out of his nose from going over so often. But with Crows: Episode Zero, he found a way to tell a Yakuza story just a little different, by making it about the teenage kids (some of them, anyway) of the Yakuza who enroll in an "extreme" high school where it's basically not about learning anything but fighting and ascending the ranks to become the head of the school's bad-ass fightin' kids. It's the kind of movie that, if you are fourteen and watching it, it's like a near wet-dream of awesomeness. For the rest of us, the movie serves as lots of good fun.And as this is Miike, even the more conventional things in the movie like the whole 'I'm-doing-this-to-out-impress-my-dad' to the 'my-girl's-been-kidnapped' thing, get twisted just a wee bit. And, thankfully, a great dose of humor is sprinkled throughout with really random moments of hilarity (my favorite was when the teen is just talking to his friends on the roof, and casually takes a gigantic ball of some kind and rolls it away at a set of other kids all lined up like bowling pins who get knocked down in silly CGI style), and little lines and things with the characters (another highlight involves a guy trying to impress two girls in a bar, with some disastrous results). But when it's not being funny, Miike is also an excellent director of young, brawny actors who have a lot of energy and talent to burn. And he casts well enough for its target audience; the movie isn't quite violent enough (i.e. Ichi the Killer level) to make it unwatchable for teen eyes, so all of the guys like Genji and Serizawa are cast for ultimate bad-assitude.Indeed there are some scenes and moments that come close to being vintage Miike for this kind of tough and gritty action movie. There's a fight scene midway through, for example, that is done with no frills and with total excitement as a guy is fighting against a large group of people, and as it starts to rain and he looks down and out he gets back up and, staggeringly, knocks out almost all of them left. It's visceral things like that that work, but it's also how Miike, taking of course from a comic-book (if it weren't a comic-book one would swear a brilliant and ornery teen had written it), takes material that has originality and pumps it up to the level of an crazy sort of epic. Why this school exists and the parents don't mind sending them away to get the crap kicked out of them in a caste system is beyond me, but why carp? We believe it because Miike does, and gets us into the power struggle and the ascension of Genji, even if it means he might go crazy or if another teen, Tokio, possibly may die from a brain aneurysm.Then again, the movie also has some problems to it as well. The whole element of the girls being kidnapped could have been cut-out, or at least given with a little more development with the female characters before they're plucked away as a kind of plot convenience (if not contrivance) just so there's something else on the plate of 's***-we-need-to-take-care-of' in the story. And the climax of the film, imbued with a real epic sensibility with Genji and Serizawa fighting in a big battle with nearly a hundred students on each side to fight, stumbles a bit as its moments of raw power and energy are awkwardly cut with images of the one guy getting operated on in the hospital - it lacks tension or focus except that surgery is going on, who cares, lets get back to the wicked action - and as well a ballad sung by a woman (we see her singing on stage too) and the fighting done in slow motion. It's almost as if Miike goes too far in his excesses in this whole sequence, and ultimately half of it is really great and the other half is just... lame.But for any fan of the director's, or anyone looking for a kooky take on rebellious youth in Japan who are only a couple of steps removed from a Battle Royale scenario, it's a good ticket to take. There's tight acting and (mostly) hard-rocking Japanese punk tunes, and the action is often creative and engaging.

8thSin Personally, I'm not a Miike Takashi fan, and I usually dislike these "Furyou" (deliquent high schooler) genre films, but it was surprisingly enjoyable film even for me.The plot is quite typical of high school movies. Genji (Oguri Shun), a son of yakuza boss must achieve an unprecedented unification of notorious Suzuran High School (AKA: Crow's High School) in order to take over his father's position. Genji soon finds the strongest guy in the school: Serizawa (Yamada Takayuki), who was also set to conquer all other classes. Genji challenges Serizawa to a duel, but of course, being a newcomer that he is, wasn't taken seriously at first. Genji then seeks help and builds up his own army while defeating other minor 'bosses', and eventually a showdown with Serizawa in his journey to the top of Suzuran High.The story for this film is extremely well-designed, with excellent flow from beginning to the very end. What I especially liked about this movie is that it was more than just random violence by bunch of kids trying to look badass. Although it IS action packed, the main theme of this film is school politics and friendship. Oguri Shun's character developed very well, from a clueless kid to a leader backed by many trustworthy friends.Cinematography for this film was extremely well-done, from school to the streets, you can tell the production crew paid attention to the tiniest detail in every single scene. Action was also very well-directed for an exciting 2 hours. I thought it was even more visually pleasing than Miike's "Ryuu ga Gotoku".Casting for this film is absolutely incredible. I recognized so many faces, many who established themselves in yakuza or delinquent roles, but the most pleasant surprise was Yamada Takayuki, who had his share of dark roles in the past, but never a violent one such as this, and possibly the first as a villain. I've never thought him as a wild type, but he was so cool as a villain and gave his character really big presence in this film. I'm still not convinced with Oguri Shun's acting or his role as a violent punk student, but he seemed to be less out of place as he was in "Hana Yori Dango" dorama series. All the other cast did what they do best, and a very high level of acting overall.Although I haven't read the manga series, this prequel was very easy to follow. It's impossible to take away the cheesiness associated with manga-adaptation or high school violence, but it was an extremely well-directed action movie with a meaningful message.