Strike Three
Tsutomu Hanabusa wraps up his adaptation of the ‘Tokyo Revengers’ manga series in punishing style.
Tokyo Revengers 2: Bloody Halloween – Finale
Director: Tsutomu Hanabusa • Writer: Izumi Takahashi, based on the manga by Ken Wakui
Starring: Takumi Kitamura, Yuki Yamada, Ryo Yoshizawa, Yosuke Sugino, Mio Imada, Suzuki Nobuyuki, Kento Nagayama, Nijiro Murakami, Mahiro Takasugi
Japan • 1hr 36mins
Opens Hong Kong November 9 • IIB
Grade: C
Well that got tired fast.
On top of wearing out its welcome as a franchise in record time, Tsutomu Hanabusa’s third and final entry in the Tokyo Revengers series, bearing the unwieldy title of Tokyo Revengers 2: Bloody Halloween – Finale 東京リベンジャーズ2 血のハロウィン編 -決戦, missed Halloween by nearly ten days. Whatever. It’s not like the holiday has any significant meaning in garbage (as in he’s not very good at it) gangster Takemichi’s (Takumi Kitamura) continuing time travel saga. A time travel saga, by the way, that’s gotten so far from its original story it’s nigh unrecognisable. Gone from the first, surprisingly charming Tokyo Revengers are any paradoxical conundrums, Takemichi’s amusing existential angst, his quest to save his girlfriend, the resulting man-out-of-time shenanigans, and a low-level bromance between Tokyo Manji Gang leader Mikey (Ryo Yoshizawa) and his emo right hand Draken (Yuki Yamada).
Also gone: a sense of humour. The modest comedy of the first film has been replaced by relentless bruising, sputtered blood, and story threads so tangled they ironically undo all that came before. This is for die-hard fans – they are myriad and they’re happy to go full cosplay – but even they might be weary of a teased out story that could have wrapped in 100 minutes instead of two 90-minute try-hard parts.
The hell is this now?
Bloody Halloween 2: Destiny ended with yet another character, Kazutora (Nijiro Murakami) getting out of jail and vowing revenge (hoh hoh!) on Toman’s Mikey, for reasons, and we discovered an old pal, Baji (Kento Nagayama), had turned traitor. Baji wants Mikey dead too. A ton of people want this guy dead, even though his only wish was to make the Toman a force for good. Or something. Meanwhile, Takemichi’s totally useless girlfriend Hinata (Mio Imada) was alive and well – but destined to die anyway. At the very end, Takemichi was trying to find out from Draken, who’s in the steel bar hotel, who Toman’s secret puppetmaster is (?), the same person who’s going to prevent his man crush Mikey from staying the peaceful course. I think.
Bloody Halloween 2: Finale picks up immediately where Destiny ended, with Kazutora and Baji on the warpath, weaselly Toman lieutenant Kisaki (Shotaro Mamiya) plotting a coup and Takemichi coming to the grim realisation that nothing he does in the “past” can change anyone’s fate. Once that’s determined, Finale settles in for an hour-long third act that is one protracted, brutal (do these people have no idea how the human brain works – or doesn’t?), exhausting gang fight at a junk yard. It’s dusty. It’s bloody. It’s not nearly as tragic as it should be. And since when was this crap tragic?
In hindsight, Destiny was simply a shit ton of backstory (there’s a dead brother, a betrayal and a terrible Japanese ’fro involved somehow) and set-up for the royal rumble Hanabusa clearly wanted to stage. Why anyone does what they do is a mystery. Why Takemichi is so determined to “save” Mikey from himself is unclear. What spoils the rival gangs may get for emerging victorious from their dust-up is never revealed. Most unforgivable is the complete lack of time travel mechanics and fallout – the premise of the story to begin with. Tokyo Revengers 2: Bloody Halloween – Finale is a clinic in diminishing returns, heavy on over-acting in that yowling “takeMICHIIIIIIIII!!!” way and just eye-rolling when it’s not headache-inducing. You now what? I can’t even remember it now. Neither will you after a few days. — DEK