Crows Explode (2014)
5/10
Mediocre REMAKE of Crows Zero
5 January 2015
Warning: Spoilers
This Crows movie is GAY!!!!

Let me be clear, I am an avid Crows-X-Worst and I have read the mangas including side stories but I am clearly not impressed with the movie unlike Crows Zero 1 & 2 did. The following supports my review.

Plot - the plot is a mediocre REMAKE of Crows Zero 1 since I think it's a lot the same. The King of the Hill fight/s for example, for me was the signature scene of CZ1 and I don't think using the same will yield the same impact as the first movie did. Although on the manga, fighting for the top spot is prevalent and the movies does not follow the exact storyline but I am sure the makers could possibly make something more interesting than this from the comics which will wow the audience. For instance, instead of having the King of the Hill fight as the main scene, they could instead make an all out war between Otsu Group(Yakuza) and a one-time unity between all leading factions of Suzuran and alliance with Kurosaki Industrial. It's up to them how to detail the connections on the participants on the war.

Fight Scenes - this is the best factor which really disappointed me. Unlike the previous movies where fights were brutal and extremely violent and bloody, it was natural to expect to see the same. But I am very disappointed with those half-ass-ed fights. Honestly, the feeling of excitement from Kagami and Ryohei's brawl was not even worth comparing to Genji and Serizawa's fight to the top. On a side note, I guess the movie guys were told to minimize the violence in the movies, I don't know who reprimanded who but this is just my guess.

Lastly, to explain as to why I still rate the movie with 5/10 though it totally left a bad after taste was because they added or should I say enhanced a movie effect/factor, that is the Emotional movie scenes and/or inputs. Let me cite examples which made me appreciate this movie.

a. Each main character like Kagami, Ryohei, Shibata and Fujiwara were introduced with back stories with different levels of sadness and emotion.

b. Ken Katagiri was already understood to live a normal life in the 2nd movie and acts as support to some characters. I appreciate the role they had for Ken in this movie because he stood not only as an Suzuran alum but also the straightened out Jarhead Ken. Adding a bit of romance between a woman also adds interest in his character.

c. The camaraderie between the boys are still decided or leveled with fistfight but, since the characters had deep seated emotional back stories, the friendship they like to show was way more emotional(not that strong and manly) making the bond look like the typical Crows-X-Worst way.

Lastly, the movie was not that exciting and thrilling to watch because if you're following the mangas, you will get the feeling of disappointment that they are not advancing to the real storyline on the manga. I know everyone has been waiting for Bouya to come out, honestly I initially thought this will be the prequel movie having the Maki-Pon-Hiromi VS Hideto Bandou characters before officially introducing Bouya but to my disappointment it was not.

To sum it up, the makers REALLY need to improve the next movie(if they will still make one) or at least level it up with the first two movies. If they will continue this, chances are, they will defame the Crows-X-Worst mangas prestige also affecting our dear Hiroshi Takahashi's name(which we don't want, right?) and most likely that their upcoming movie adaptation will not sell. Cheers.
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