Change Your Image
sdyygtb
Reviews
High & Low: The Movie 3 - Final Mission (2017)
Finished Beautifully after End of Sky
After the emotional foundation built in End of Sky where all five SWORD Gangs made the resolute choice to collectively defend their town against Kuryu, they are confronted with the consequence of that choice here in Final Mission as every Gang is utterly beaten by the much more powerful and experienced Yakuzas.
The franchise built towards this conclusion, every Gang since the Story of Sword had once at been each other's throat, distrust and uncooperative as demonstrated in their unwillingness to work together in End of Sky, they eventually rallied and demonstrated personal growth in their ideals at the conclusion of End of Sky as they rally behind Cobra and Sannoh Rengokai.
That was the choice the characters made and to see the futility of their fight and the hopeless of it is a gut-punch as Rude's leader, Smokey sacrifices himself to save his people and the gang rally together one last time and find hope to end what they started.
End of Sky and Final Mission wrapped up the direction of the Story of Sword nicely. Nothing explosive, nothing flashy, just a bunch of delinquents and gangsters who strayed from their old paths to fight for their town and succeeded in the end.
High & Low: The Movie 2 - End of Sky (2017)
A great sequel to continue the story.
End of Sky is arguably the best amongst High & Low Movie, High & Low 3 - Final Mission and the Story of Sword.
End of Sky is without a doubt the climax of the story, everything that was setup in the previous installment was all for this film to finally reveal the corrupt Kuryu and what it means for the SWORD Gangs moving forward.
It also places heavy emphasis on the choices humanity makes and what the consequences are. Cobra and Sannoh Rengokai are faced with internal conflict between battling the corrupt Yakuzas or letting them.
Rocky and White Rascal's stubbornness to receive help from the other SWORD Gangs created that emotional dispute in Sannoh Hoodlum where the Gang is torn between helping Rocky or leaving White Rascal to inevitably be defeated.
Hyuga and Daruma Ikka, although presented as a neutral party who was hinted in the earlier scenes to may eventually join Doubt/Kuryu eventually turned around and continued to help SWORD fight to protect their town.
Murayama and Oya High have come a long way since the story of Sword, originally a reckless violent deliquent school with little regards for whom they hurt; is now willing to brawl with dangerous Gangs more experienced then them for the right cause.
Takashi and Ruder Boys after their leader, Smokey having gone inactive due to a terrible sickness; made the choice to support the other gangs instead of prioritizing their own survival like they have had in previous installment.
And finally, Cobra and Sannoh Rengokai, despite having lost four of their most powerful fighters due to their differences; nontheless went to confront Doubt and save the White Rascals.
All five gangs made their decision to fight against Kuryu; and this very choice will soon build the emotional foundation for the devastation they would soon face in the final film, Final Mission.
And so; End of Sky is the peak of this franchise where the resolution will be in Final Mission.
High & Low: The Worst (2019)
A good introduction to the cast of High & Low the Worst
This movie is a good introduction in preparation for it's sequel, High & Low The Worst X Cross as well as make justice for the appearance of the popular Housen School from Crows Zero.
It is a brief watch as the plot is mainly driven by events instead of character growth. Not long after the movie began, the audience is immediately a glimpse towards the main antagonist of the movie before the main character, Hanaoka Fujio meets with Ueda Sachio from the nostalgic Housen school that now appears in the High and Low Franchise.
The two schools get into a brief clash to satisfy longtime fan's curiosity of the strength comparison between the two and the movie ends as the two school cooperates to take down the true antagonist and fills it with adrenaline inducing fight sequences.
As it is merely an introduction to the setting of the franchise, there's no need to be too harsh on it. The audience will be introduced to the main, secondary and recurring characters for future sequels and that was the point of the film, laying the groundwork and it did it well.
High & Low: The Worst X (2022)
Falls short of expectations, a decent watch nontheless.
I'd argue that the Worst spinoffs wasn't able to meet the expectations that it's preceeding titles had placed. The themes behind the characters are very surface-level and straightforward but perhasp that was the intent as the targeted demographic may be young men.
The story adds good stakes after the school was attacked and devastated, it captured the hopelessness of the situation well only ruined by the letter Ueda Sachio gave to Hanaoka Fujio earlier on, declaring that Housen would help Oya should they need it.
If this wasn't explicitly shown, I believe the story would have much more apprehension. Hanaoka Fujio especially feels like a very childish superhero character that is not realistic like the rest of the cast, he easily gains the support of the people around him even with his lack of insight.
Hanaoka Fujio is not a leader that Oya High needs but it seems as if he was just written to be. Other than that, everyone else is acceptable as a character even though they are very static and flat characters.
Takajo Tsukasa's character in High & Low the Worst Zero added much depth and complexity to his character and Murayama Yoshiki was the best example of growth and dynamic characterization from this franchise evident by his popular place in fan votes. However everyone else, especially for what seems to be the main protagonist; Hanaoka Fujio, he needs a bit more depth.