Quarrels, heartbreak and intensity make for a perfect dive into Takashi Miike. Where better to start than with a concept well-arranged and a narrative drawn from frenetic fighting and a culture of local assassinations. Delicate colours, intensity and cluttered displays are key to the surprisingly warm feel of Dead or Alive 2: Birds. A turn-of-the-century piece that gives its violence the gutsy, bloody and loud punches needed to underline the intensity. Miike cements strong chemistry with the cast and the key to that is colourful displays. Complete, enjoyable madness brushes the screen with frequency, from the man with the pop revolver to the scourge of assassins realising their initial lack of self-worth. Healing and growing are not reserved for good men. The whole world loves magic.
Eager violence and childish one-upmanship rooted in rekindled friendships mark a beautiful series of events for Dead or Alive 2: Birds. Devastatingly great blurs of lucid comedy and explosive, techno-soundtracked action form the brilliance and constant variation Dead or Alive 2: Birds presents. Much of that comes through a fractured, fast-paced rush of John Woo-like effectiveness. Explosive in the sense of what is on screen rather than the literalism for it. Following that narrative is easy when Miike has clear trust and faith in the viewer to piece these fragments together. Chance encounters, deep movements in what the morality of old friends can provide, it all crashes together with a surprising intimacy.
Much of that comes from smart editing. Overlaying dialogue and snapping to the other ruthless killer gives a presence to that back and forth which eventually becomes one driving force. Tofu, flashes and brutal, painful pangs of nostalgia, driving through a feature that at its core is an articulate and tragic display. Messy and elaborate bird creatures flanked by the cross, violent and impressionistic violence contrast those moments. Dead or Alive 2: Birds is a perfect establishment of Miike’s style, his ability to shift from disturbed and bloodied gunfights to GCSE drama-like theatre productions for the elderly may seem chaotic but comes with those thematic textures necessary to the point of the plot and the chaotic potential.
Nothing related to Dead or Alive the fighting series, but certainly a lot of fighting within this Miike film. A series of fireworks imprinting themselves onto the canvas, not quite with any structure, never needing it. Some fascinating blur of Takeshi’s Castle game show clips and Woo’s Bullet in the Head. Far too cool for its own good, with slick suits, contemporary fascinations and a fundamental aspect of the importance of looking back with those who were previously close. Far too good for its own good. Miike cracks through with an amalgamation of well-established characters, intense and well-placed camera work and a flurry of narrative blows that pepper these characters with all that strife and struggle they are doubtful to survive. Old friends hit the town in one way or another, and if they do not head back home as bloodied and beaten as Mizuki Okamoto (Sho Aikawa) and Shuuichi Sawada (Riki Takeuchi), then they have not lived enough.
