Summary
The sequel to The Blood of the Wolves takes everything up a notch, with a more sophisticated story and a compelling central rivalry.
In the three years since director Kazuya Shiraishi released The Blood of Wolves (2018), he’s released a whopping four more films including dramas Sea of Revival and One Night. This consistent workload hasn’t stopped him from coming back with a ferocity with this sequel, THE LAST OF THE WOLVES (孤狼の血 LEVEL 2).
Once again drawing inspiration from Yuko Yuzuki’s novel, Shiraishi and screenwriter Junya Ikegami set the scene in Kurehara City, Hiroshima. It’s 1991, three years after the events of the first film, and connected cop Shuichi Hioka (Tori Matsuzaka) has successfully managed to maintain an alliance between yakuza clans through some targeted assassinations. Yet when former rival gang member Shigehiro Uebayashi (Ryohei Suzuki) is released from prison, his lust for vengeance threatens to topple the house of cards.
The original Japanese title is something like ‘Blood of the Wolves Level 2‘ which is incredible apt. In every way, Shiraishi has taken this saga up a notch. One of the primary issues with the first outing is that it never really got past its stylistic excess, revelling in some of the more unsavoury elements at the expense of storytelling. Yes, there’s still a fair bit of blood — and any film featuring tortured naked men and women in cages is going to be problematic — but there’s also a wicked driving narrative in this clash of wills.
Ryôhei Suzuki, who collaborated with Shiraishi on One Night, adds a dangerous element that genuinely keeps us guessing. An often unhinged characters, he’s just as likely to turn on his own people as he is on Hioka or the opposing gang. Similarly, Hioka finds himself on the edge from multiple angles: Ichinose’s men tolerate Hioka for the sake of the peace, but have never forgiven him for the death of his boss. Hioka’s also widely known as crooked amongst his police colleagues and is never fully trusted at his day job either.
Set against the backdrop of some real-life events that lead to anti-organised crime legislation that came into force in 1991, several of the characters reflect on Hiroshima’s “bad old days.” Given the setting, it necessarily recalls Kinji Fukasaki’s Battles Without Honour or Humanity quintet, before coming to a satisfying conclusion in the vein of Infernal Affairs or the Outrage series. Or it just might leave the door open for even more explorations of this old-school throwback with a savage heart.
2021 | Japan | DIRECTOR: Kazuya Shiraishi | WRITERS: Junya Ikegami, Yuko Yuzuki (novel) | CAST: Tori Matsuzaka, Ryohei Suzuki, Nijiro Murakami, Nanase Nishino | DISTRIBUTOR: NYAFF 2021, Fantasia Festival 2021 | RUNNING TIME: 139 minutes | RELEASE DATE: 6-22 August 2021 (NYAFF 2021)
