Dead or Alive 2: Birds is a Japanese film

Film

A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...

 directed by Takashi Miike

Takashi Miike

is a highly prolific and controversial Japanese filmmaker. He has directed over seventy theatrical, video, and television productions since his debut in 1991. In the years 2001 and 2002 alone, Miike is credited with directing fifteen productions...

. Dead or Alive 2: Birds is unrelated to Dead or Alive

Dead or Alive (film)

, abbreviated as DOA , is a 1999 Japanese yakuza action film directed by Takashi Miike. It stars Riki Takeuchi, as the Chinese Triad boss and former yakuza Ryūichi, and Show Aikawa, as the Japanese cop Detective Jojima, and focuses on their meeting and conflict...

(1999) or Dead or Alive: Final

Dead or Alive: Final

Dead or Alive: Final is a 2002 Japanese cyberpunk science fiction film directed by Takashi Miike. It is the third in a three-part series, preceded by Dead or Alive in 1999 and Dead or Alive 2: Birds in 2000. The films are not connected in any apparent way except by director Takashi Miike and stars...

(2002) except that all three films have Show Aikawa and Riki Takeuchi

Riki Takeuchi

is a Japanese actor best known for his roles in v-cinema yakuza movies.Takeuchi has starred in many yakuza films and action films, such as Dead or Alive by Takashi Miike...

 in them, and they are all directed by Takashi Miike

Takashi Miike

is a highly prolific and controversial Japanese filmmaker. He has directed over seventy theatrical, video, and television productions since his debut in 1991. In the years 2001 and 2002 alone, Miike is credited with directing fifteen productions...

.

Plot

Two contract killers cross paths on the same job and realize they are childhood friends. Together they take a break from killing and visit the small island they once called home. After reflecting on their past lives they decide to team up and use their talents in killing for good... upsetting the crime syndicates they used to work for.

Cast

• Show Aikawa as Mizuki Okamoto
• Riki Takeuchi
  Riki Takeuchi
  is a Japanese actor best known for his roles in v-cinema yakuza movies.Takeuchi has starred in many yakuza films and action films, such as Dead or Alive by Takashi Miike...
  
   as Shuuichi Sawada
• Noriko Aota as Kōhei's wife
• Edison Chen
  Edison Chen
  Edison Koon-Hei Chen is a Hong Kong film actor, Cantopop singer, Hong Kong hip hop rapper, model, record producer, fashion designer, and a pop icon. Chen is also the founder of CLOT Inc., and the CEO of Clot Media Division Limited...
  
   as Boo
• Kenichi Endo as Kōhei
• Hiroko Isayama
• Masato
  Masato (kickboxer)
  Masato Kobayashi is a Japanese former welterweight kickboxer. He was the world champion of ISKA at Welterweight under Oriental rules, and he is the winner of K-1 WORLD MAX World tournament in 2003 and 2008...
  
   as Hoo
• Yuichi Minato as Head of orphanage
• Ren Osugi
  Ren Osugi
  , born , is a Japanese actor. For his work in Cure, Hana-bi and other films, Osugi was given the Best Supporting Actor award at the 1999 Yokohama Film Festival...
  
   (credited as Red Ohsugi) as Mizuki's stepfather
• Manzō Shinra
• Tomorowo Taguchi
  Tomorowo Taguchi
  is a Japanese actor.After leaving Dokkyo University without graduating, he started to earn his living as an illustrator, writer and pornographic cartoonist. He joined a theatre called Hakken no Kai in 1978 and he made a screen debut in Zokubutsu Zukan in 1982...
  
   as Man with telescope
• Teah as Woo
• Toru Tezuka
• Shinya Tsukamoto
  Shinya Tsukamoto
  is a Japanese film director and actor with a considerable cult following both domestically and abroad.-Biography:Tsukamoto started making movies at the age of 14, when his father gave him a Super 8 camera. He made a number of films, ranging...
  
  as Magician Higashino
• Yoshiyuki Yamaguchi

Other credits

• Produced by:
  • Toshiki Kimura: associate producer for Excellent Film
  • Mitsuru Kurosawa: executive producer for Toei Video
  • Yoshihiro Masuda: producer for Daiei
  • Makoto Okada: producer for Toei Video
  • Tsutomu Tsuchikawa: executive producer for Daiei
• Film Editing by: Yasushi Shimamura
• Production Design by: Akira Ishige
• Sound Department: Mitsugu Shiratori (sound)