Dead or Alive: Birds
Director: Takashi Miike
Year Released: 2000
Rating: 2.0
Ignores (sort-of) the fact that the world ended in the first Dead or Alive and kicks in with a new plot about the two heroes of that film now on the same side, killing scum and donating money to the poor children of the world. In between the typical Miike jokes and carnage are some odd attempts at emotion and poetry, which was not a problem with the first film - I don't know if he knows it, but showing a woman crying over the death of a lover with an elephant-sized penis doesn't work when right next to scenes of male bonding in the rain and shattered picture frames and images of poverty-stricken third world children (even if the 'uplifting' moments are just tongue-in-cheek jokes themselves). Most of the director's films start off on a high but slip in the middle, only to be brought back up by a spirited finale.
