This obscure, minor, early Miike effort is incredibly lame and laughable. Tom Mes, author of "Agitator -The Cinema of Takashi Miike," (and essentially a died-in-the-wool Miike fanboy), describes this film as "awful" and "terrible" in some of his commentaries, and I have to agree with him heartily. Although I don't think its quite as lame as Miike's "City of Lost Souls," or as aimless and unwatchable as "Dead or Alive: Final," this Kiba sequel is definitely Miike at his sloppiest and most cringe-worthy. Almost everything about this picture is glaringly subpar, and some of the scenes are laugh out loud terrible. Aside from its star and basic story premise, this film bears no resemblance to its predecessor. Whereas the original "Bodyguard Kiba" was a pretty effective and watchable action movie, this one is a disjointed, seemingly "bad on purpose" clunker, and the story moves along incoherently. Miike is notorious for working with different crews for each picture, which lends a lot to his unclassifiability, and Miike is also a filmmaker that sometimes lets his crews have a lot of say, which allows him to make so many films a year. Anyhow, this picture had 3 assistant directors. For a film of this scale, there is no need for that, and the feeling one gets is that Miike had little to do with the actual production. There are some sorta funny parts, and the whole affair is over before it can wear out its welcome, but in the end, its minor and dull beyond belief. Unless you just have to see the worst Miike films, you can skip this one. ---|--- Reviews by Flak Magnet
