Tokyo Revengers 2: Bloody Halloween: Decisive Battle sticks the landing!

 

After thoroughly enjoying Tokyo Revengers 2: Bloody Halloween: Destiny, it was a no brainer that I would follow it up with part 2 of the Bloody Halloween movies. I was on a high from the first part after really enjoying what was done with the story and characters which in turn led me to want to get to Part 2 as swiftly as I could. Did it live up to my high expectations? The answer is yes, yes it did. 

Decisive Battle picks up almost immediately after the events of Destiny. Takemichi Hanagaki's plan to save his girlfriend, the love of his life, Hinata Tachibana all hinges on the swiftly approaching Bloody Halloween. The battle between Toman and Valhalla draws ever closer with Valhalla launching an assault on Kisaki Tetta's Third Division whilst Takemichi is confronting him. This showcases their willingness to get ahead by any means necessary, especially after they had caused Mitsuya to crash his motorcycle previously. Draken attempts to get Kazutora to call off the battle and tells him that they're still friends, but Kazutora scoffs and declares that he'll kill Mikey. Takemichi teams up with Chifuyu as they attempt to swade Baji to go back to Toman and inform him of Kisaki's treachery, only to seemingly be shot down. Meanwhile, Mikey is conflicted. He wants to protect Toman, but also doesn't want to fight his friends, Baji and Kazutora. Nevertheless, the day of the battle comes and Toman shows up to fight! 

The movie actually begins with a recap of the first part that takes about 10 minutes of screentime. It condenses the plot into a brief sequence of scenes that helps the audience get right back into things. A strange choice considering the fact that the movie is a measly 1 hour and 36 minutes long, but it does work rather well and I can see it aiding anyone that saw the first part a while before starting the second. 

What I liked about this part is the fact that we get the flashback of the very beginning of Toman. In the previous part, we got a flashback of the gang getting their uniforms, but this time we get the actual formation of the gang born out of friendship. It hits hard when put into the context of what unfolds on screen with the Bloody Halloween events. It also helps expand upon the characters, especially the main founding members of Toman, Baji, Draken, Kazutora, Mikey, Mitsuya and Pachan.

There's a lot more regarding Baji and Chifuyu. We get a flashback showing how they met and became good friends. It's a fun set of scenes that showcases Chifuyu's old hairstyle and abilities as a fighter as well as just why he's so loyal to Baji. It also shows off a fun side of Baji in regards to his time at school. The confrontation between Baji, Chifuyu and Takemichi has a lot more impact following these scenes as they attempt to sway him back to Toman's side. In fact, it sets up Baji as a pivotal component in the events of Bloody Halloween and the movie in general, something which I believe it is successful at achieving as his involvement brings so much raw emotion and dramatic cinema moments. 

As set up by the previous movie there's a lot more fighting than in the first part. For the most part, they are massive multi-man brawls featuring a lot of bodies on screen. These are hectic with a lot of shaky camera movements that add to the frantic nature of such large melees. To the movie's credit, the shaky cam is not too egregious with the action being easy enough to follow and in focus for the majority of the time. The choreography is pretty decent, considering the sheer amount of bodies on screen, it's scrappy and brutal at times. There are moments were certain mob members can be seen in the background awaiting their turn to attack, but that happens often with such fight scenes. There's also moments of almost superhuman strength coming from guys like Baji, Draken and Mikey where they kick and punch their adversary flying a few feet back. I'm not the biggest fan of this because I prefer realism in fight scenes, but it can be waved away as being true to the source material. 

Much like the previous movies, the cinematography is on point thanks to the wonderful partnership between Hanabusa Tsutomu and Tomo Ezaki. Once again, there was a variety of shot types, camera angles and techniques being used to help breath life into the script. There's some slow motion that really heightens the tension of dramatic moments such as a key moment in which Mikey is beating a certain member of Valhalla up. My favourite shot also happens during the fighting. It's a panning shot that shows Takemichi emotionally looking up and shouting towards Mikey whilst the fighting is going on in the background. It's a beautifully cinematic moment that heightens the drama, tension and emotional impact of that particular moment.  My second favourite shot is a mid/wide angle shot that showcases Mikey in the foreground and the rest of the founding members of Toman in the background. 

Every single cast member portrayed their roles admirably. Everyone showed up and performed. Takumi Kitamura did exceedingly well in the main role of Takemichi Hanagaki. He managed to be convincing as the man desperate to save Hinata and Toman. He showcased the strength of the character really well, even if he cowered a little at first in the Bloody Halloween battle. It's thanks to Takemichi that Toman rallies in the fight with him refusing to go down. That being said, I detested one of his decisions towards the end of the movie, even if I understood his reasoning for what he did.

Ryo Yoshizawa was once again fantastic as Mikey. He was given some more substance this time with some really key, emotional scenes and moments, including a scene in front of the whole of Toman which showcased his humanity and vulnerability. He managed to be the badass leader of Toman as well as the conflicted friend and did a lot with subtle facial expressions and body language. Seeing him with blood in his blonde hair and on his fists was a really cool visual. 

Yuki Yamada got some time to shine once more and again was effortlessly cool as Draken. He excelled in the fight scenes and much like Ryo Yoshizawa, managed to convey a lot through facial expressions and body language. His subtle smiles at Takemichi and Mikey's actions showcase what a good friend he is. 

Mahiro Takasugi was great as Chifuyu Matsuno. I greatly appreciated his portrayal of a man loyal to a fault and a brilliant friend. He managed to convincingly pull off a very emotional scene after the battle at a certain grave and even before then with his attempts to help Takemichi and sway Baji back to Toman's side. 

Once again though, Kento Nagayama stole the show as the heroically tragic figure of Keisuke Baji. He had such a large screen presence that he stole practically every scene that he was involved in and he also managed to excel when it came to the action. He was the emotional heart of the movie in my opinion. 

I also thought that the credits were really neat. I loved the fact that each character had certain things that were linked to them in some way featured with their name, it was cool.

Overall, Tokyo Revengers 2: Bloody Halloween: Decisive Battle really stuck the landing set up by the previous movie. It had a lot to enjoy from a lot more action compared to part 1, to some really emotional moments that caused a response from me and some great cinematography. I would highly recommend the movie to action movie fans that are ok with some sci-fi elements and time travel, as well as fans of the source material as I believe it does it justice.