Zeiram 2 Review

Disclaimer: Contains spoilers!

Plot Summary: Zeiram has been resurrected as a robotic assistant to Iria when he breaks free of his control.

Review: So the first film made a ton of mistakes that held it back--did this sequel learn from them? Well, yes and no. The action has been improved considerably with more emphasis on Iria being a genuine badass. I mean, come on, giving Iria a sword, as cliched as it may be, is a must in Japanese action! Speaking of Iria, still played by Yuko Moriyama, she looks better and more alien; I don't know if it's the silver/blue streaks in the hair, or more/less polish to her makeup, but it worked. I also liked that we got to see how feared she is by other aliens as an entire horde of flunkies back away in terror. And, as such, it was wise to showcase more aliens as a means of expanding and developing this fictional universe more thoroughly. I certainly appreciate the attempts to make this movie a bigger and better experience than its predecessor.

On the other hand, they chose to bring back the same dumbasses from part one. They aren't quite as Jar Jar-esque as before, but, still, they do a lot of screaming and nearly dying. To make matters worse, they included a third Jar Jar--a little bitch who keeps trying to betray Iria; though he is removed from the story at one point, it wasn't through death and that's simply unacceptable. As for Zeiram, I did like some of the new ideas for his forms, but he appeared weaker to me. I don't know...he got beat a lot easier this time around despite allegedly being more powerful and durable. For example: at one point this bitch is put out of commission for hours after being impaled by Iria's sword. If Iria weren't so distracted by all the Jar Jars running about, Zeiram would have been toasty toast fairly early on. The final defeat of Zeiram is almost as equally anticlimactic as part one as well. Finally, the story felt a bit shaky at points and too similar to the first one. We never learn why someone would resurrect Zeiram and send him to Iria, but he malfunctions right away and they end up in another pocket dimension. Essentially, the stakes are the same as the first one except Zeiram isn't quite as intimidating and Iria does most of the fighting rather than the Jar Jars.

Overall, this was a better film than the first one but the margin of difference is narrow. You have the focus put on Iria--where it belongs--and we see her capabilities in their full glory. The new additions to both Iria and Zeiram's arsenals were cool and provided interesting setups; the notion of fighting in the giant statue/temple was fun. They did try and downplay the Jar Jars, but they could have been left out entirely especially if you add a third little bitch to the mix. But, if I had to pick the one gripe that truly stopped this from significantly surpassing the first film, it would be the ease to which Zeiram is defeated. He felt relentlessly immortal in the first one, but he's nowhere near as unstoppable this time around despite boasting all of these upgrades. These are cool little films if you get a chance to check them out, but we will have to see if the anime can surpass them both!

Notable Moment: When Iria does that badass, midair reload. Predictable...but oh so satisfying.

Final Rating: 6/10