So here’s a film in which the bad guy strips, collars, and cages both his yakuza rival and his yakuza rival’s wife … and yet this gory sequel isn’t quite as over-the-top as the original.
Three years ago, Blood of Wolves taught us all how to fall in love with brutality. An opening scene involving finger severing and pig-shit eating was a mere taste of the invention to follow. While that picture was mired in Internal Affairs, however, this follow-up hardens the edges a little with better definitions of good and bad. Oh, they’re still not entirely clear; but the film gave us one bad guy so bad even the other bad guys steer clear.
And that’s the point of this sequel.
Faced with a rise ns yakuza criminal activity, the local police hit upon a brilliant plan: let’s let the evilest guy we know out of jail. Shigehiro Uebayashi (Ryohei Suzuki) is the kind of criminal who thinks nothing of torturing your family to get what he wants. He doesn’t even like to farm out these chores, cuz, you know, if you can’t enjoy the little things, why be a gangster?
At the opposite end of our limited spectrum, there’s undercover cop Shūichi Hioka (Tori Matsuzaka). Three years ago, Shūichi was a 
goody-goody noob keeping his partner in line. He’s a big boy now; we can tell because he grew a moustache. Just wait until he has a goatee or Fu Manchu; he’ll be unstoppable. And the the past few years, his ethics have … softened.
I’d say this is a game of cat and mouse, but the Wolves franchise is more like a game of ball peen v. sledgehammer. Come for the violence; stay for a lesson almost learned.
Last of the Wolves is a film where we discover there are many degrees of amorality. The question is which one are you willing to root for? For those who like violence on film, I suggest the Wolves duo is a great place to start. I didn’t love this film, but it certainly did nothing to detract from the genre.
I’ve reviewed several films about dogs
Canines often visit these blogs
And with this ending riff
I’m done with ’21 HIFF
Last of the Wolves is now last of the Frog’s
Not Rated [read: R], 139 Minutes
Director: Kazuya Shiraishi
Writer: Jun’ya Ikegami
Genre: Bloody
Type of being most likely to enjoy this film: Gangsta lovas
Type of being least likely to enjoy this film: “Wouldn’t you rather, you know, just watch a cartoon or something?”
