This review may contain spoilers
Holy smokes, as far as Cobra whump goes, this movie was a real smorgasbord. He was kicked, beaten unconscious and kidnapped, tortured - like, they went surprisingly far with that! - and on top of that there was the emotional whump too because a big part of his gang turned against him, preferring to give in to Kuryu instead of standing up against them, his guilt over not saving Smokey, his helplessness over how to defeat Kuryu... Ah-mazing!But my favorite moments were when Cobra faced the big bads, first Yoshitatsu Zenshin who went all, "I like you. I'll remember your face!" and then later on Kurosaki Kimitatsu who even went as far as asking Cobra to join their side! Their meet-up in the underground garage at the end was *chef's kiss* I loved how Kurosaki was all, "You survived, after all!" and it actually looked like he didn't mind all that much that Kuryu was beaten because he really didn't seem to like the direction their company went in under Iemura and their henchmen.
Also, I loved how all the things from the drama and the previous movies actually came to a head and all the loose ends and all the hints dropped were connected. That was some real smart writing that showed that they put a lot of thought into the actual story!
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Jpop boys turned lethal fighters
Plot? what plot?
Friendship? overload
Beautiful people? too many to count
Action? the best
Entertainment Value? through the roof
This isn't just a review for this movie but for the whole franchise.
Disclaimer: HL is my emotional support series, this review is biased.
Obviously it's not without its flaws. Some plot points really didn't make sense to me, but I overlook it for the greater good, the sheer entertainment of it all.
First of all, THE ACTION. It's what most of us came here for. What lured me in was watching the Rude Boys trailer because I heard I will find KuboMasa there. I was very impressed by the parkour and that's what pushed me down the rabbit hole.
The action choreographer is Takahito Ouchi who previously worked on Crows Zero and Rurouni Kenshin. Him and director Shigeaki Kubo (who has directed many beautiful music videos for Exile Tribe) utilize the athletic and dance abilities of the cast to the fullest. They are able to do a lot of their own stunts.
The actions scenes are very dynamic. Location and perspective constantly changes thanks to the drones who follow the fighters around. The one-takes are spectacular, I'm in awe at everyones abilities. They also mix it up by having one on one fights, all out brawls and some chase scenes. With each new project the action gets better and better. It's not boring even for a minute (I've seen a lot of action movies and sometimes it's just stale and repetitive tbh).
What I really appreciate here is how each gang has their own theme going on. Not just their own songs but also fashion sense, emblem, and even transportation mode. Like you have the cruiser bikes, sports bikes, dirt bikes, trucks, convertible Cadillacs, luxury cars etc. Some characters even have a distinctive fighting style.
Friendship is a major theme throughout. They always have their homies back, but sometimes the loyalty gets shaken and drama ensues. Also across the SWORD groups the guys who are at each other's throats all of season 1 later somehow come together against a common goal, develop respect towards one another and even tentative friendships.
There's so many characters that it's honestly hard to pick one favourite because they're all different and they all have something appealing about them. Among the SWORD leader there's our main boy Cobra who used to be more laid back but now responsibility of being a leader weighs on his shoulders. Hyuga the batshit crazy one, Rocky our feminist hero, chill and rational Smoky, and Yoshiki whose lifelong ambition is to date Cobra (jk).
This is a LDH project therefore the cast mostly comprises of it's actors, singers, dancers and models. Considering some of them had very little acting experience they did well and nobody was in your face bad.
These artists are also singing the OST, they made a whole album out of it, it's called HIGH&LOW THE ALBUM. Shoutout to Doberman Infinity for winning the SWORD theme song challenge having the best 3 songs :P
BTW if you liked the music, do yourself a huge favour and watch the concert to end all concerts, HIGH&LOW THE LIVE.
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