tsuyoshi nakakuki

HIGH & LOW THE MOVIE 3: FINAL MISSION Review: A Groundbreaking Japanese Action Saga Comes To A Rousing Close

Peaking as the third (or fourth – or fifth – and final depending on your preference) main act of the High & Low saga, High & Low The Movie 3: Final Mission, at long last brings Cobra face-to-face with heavy-hitting criminal organization, Kuryu Group. The film doesn’t start off right away, but it does flash forward briefly in a key torture scene before its da capo revert to the aftermath of the epic train station battle between S.W.O.R.D. against Doubt and the Mighty Warriors. Little do the gangs of S.W.O.R.D. know, just as Boss Yoshitatsu (Goro Kishitani) of Kuryu’s Zenshin clan’s arrival offsets a climatic confrontation with Cobra (Takanori Iwata) and the rest of S.W.O.R.D., that Kuryu has already begun its violent campaign against the district, targeting the Rude Boys’ Nameless City as its key demolition target, in order to commence a major casino project. With the gangs all then […]

HIGH & LOW 2: END OF SKY Review: Sad Goodbyes, Sinister Plot Twists And Blockbuster Action Mark The Beginning Of The End

Lee B. Golden III

Following his solo turn at the helm for High & Low: The Movie, the aftermath of Yudai Yamaguchi’s High & Low: The Red Rain now brings our attention to the latest of major final chapters of the High & Low film saga. It’s understandable if you feel like things have hit a fever pitch too, especially if you’ve seen both seasons of the NTV and Hulu dramas that pre-empt the current film saga from LDH Pictures and Shochiku. Still, it bares noting the freshness and practicality with which these films have been treated in bringing this contemporary Japanese gangland action cineverse to life, with none other than some of J-pop’s brightest stars composing most of the roster. In High & Low 2: End Of Sky, things are heating up even more in the district of S.W.O.R.D., with the emergence of outside gangs looking to muscle their way in amid the […]