Dead or Alive 2 – Birds

Was the end of the world in the first Dead or Alive all a dream? Maybe not, because this time Aikawa and Takeuchi are back as angels. More exactly, they're boyhood friends and rival hitmen who run into each when both are hired to kill one racketeer. They figure it's time to retire from the yakuza fray and take a slow boat back to the island where they were both raised in an orphanage, reminiscing about the good times, the bad times and their favourite noodles. The only narrative issue of any consequence is how and where they will die this time. Miike's film (this time written to order) parodies its own predecessor, rhymes gunplay with conjuring tricks, considers the morality of Christian retribution and ponders the exhaustion of the yakuza genre. It might be best to file it under 'avant-garde'.