Overview
Two childhood friends turned contract killers find redemption in their past as they take on a new mission for good.
Ember's analysis
- Pacing
- Brisk
- Intensity
- Strong
- Complexity
- Layered
- Violence
- Graphic
- darkly comic
- melancholic
- absurdist
- cult movie night
- late night viewing
What critics said
Critics broadly regard the film as a distinctive and highly entertaining blend of yakuza action, dark comedy, and emotionally resonant friendship.
What sets it apart
May contain story progression spoilers
The reunited contract killers decide to deploy their lethal skills against criminal organizations for ostensibly benevolent purposes.
Yakuza killings, shootouts, and syndicate conflict are repeatedly reframed through darkly comic encounters and tonal shocks.
The killers recognize one another as childhood friends and revisit the island associated with their early lives.
The protagonists leave the immediate crime world to return to the small island they once called home.
Films like Dead or Alive 2: Birds, and why
Dead or Alive
Japanese crime action, volatile gangster violence, and transgressive dark humor
Ichi the Killer
stylized yakuza criminality, bleak comedy, and abrupt bursts of violence
Fulltime Killer
eccentric Japanese hitmen, genre destabilization, and bloody comic absurdity
The Quiet Family
mismatched assassins, crime-world satire, and kinetic dark comedy
Movie Details
- Director
- Takashi Miike
- Release Date
- 2000-12-02
- Runtime
- 97 min
- Rating
- 6.8 / 10 (109)
Cast
- Show Aikawa
- Riki Takeuchi
- Noriko Aota
- Edison Chen
- Kenichi Endo
- Hiroko Isayama
- Masato
- Yūichi Minato
- Ren Osugi
- Manzo Shinra
Where to watch in United States
- Streaming
- Philo, Fandor Amazon Channel, Hi-YAH, Midnight Pulp Amazon Channel, ARROW
- Rent
- Google Play Movies, YouTube
- Buy
- Google Play Movies, YouTube
Streaming options come from TMDB and change over time.
Common questions
- What is Dead or Alive 2: Birds about?
- Two estranged childhood friends reunite as rival contract killers and turn a criminal vocation into an anarchic campaign against the syndicates that employed them.
- What is Dead or Alive 2: Birds like to watch?
- Ember's analysis rates the pacing of Dead or Alive 2: Birds as brisk, its intensity as strong and its storytelling as layered.
- Is Dead or Alive 2: Birds violent?
- Yes. Ember rates the violence in Dead or Alive 2: Birds as graphic.
- What did critics think of Dead or Alive 2: Birds?
- Critics broadly regard the film as a distinctive and highly entertaining blend of yakuza action, dark comedy, and emotionally resonant friendship.
- Which films are like Dead or Alive 2: Birds?
- Films with a similar feel include Dead or Alive, Ichi the Killer, Fulltime Killer, and The Quiet Family.
- How long is Dead or Alive 2: Birds?
- Dead or Alive 2: Birds runs 97 minutes.
- Where can I watch Dead or Alive 2: Birds?
- In United States, Dead or Alive 2: Birds streams on Philo, Fandor Amazon Channel, Hi-YAH, Midnight Pulp Amazon Channel, ARROW.
