Part 2 of the live-action adaptation of Hitoshi Iwaaki’s hugely popular manga series, Parasyte, is here. Part 2 is the conclusion to this two-part live-action adaptation and builds upon the foundations laid out in the first movie.
Following on from part one (spoilers ahead), Shinichi Izumi and Migi find themselves on a rampage of revenge against the parasites that killed his mother and who caused the deaths of his classmates. Meanwhile, Ryoko Tamiya continues her experiments. Her prosperous and growing colony is becoming increasingly wary of Shinichi’s recent actions. Only on her say so do they allow his actions to continue but they have grown tired of her approach when it comes to Shinichi and soon begins to rebel against her. The stories of both movies revolve largely around Ryoko’s experiments and probably her greatest mistake was the creation of Mr Goto who becomes Shinichi and Migi’s biggest adversary in part two.
Unlike the small scale feel of part one, Shinichi’s first contact with Migi and other parasites like Ryoko, part two takes a more grandeur approach. Throughout part one Ryoko’s character was about finding ways to integrate into society, due to her higher brain function that other parasites do not have, she continually brought in other seemingly intellectual parasites. These, however, did not perform as planned in part one and were the cause of a lot of Shinichi’s misfortune. At the end of part one, it showed Ryoko’s colony now with a group of more intelligent parasites that had successfully integrated themselves into the local city hall. Part two expands on this greatly and the story becomes less about Shinichi’s very small world but parasite integration into society and their inevitable discovery by police agencies.
While part one was clearly the set up to part two, it did feature a more balanced use of story and action. The latter was a rather slow burner in the first half but by this point, we’ve witness parasites doing battle already so the real draw is in their new approach to integration. The second half of the movie definitely amps up the action again with our ultimate adversary in Mr Goto who is slowly featured but not quite explain earlier on. A question is constantly bought up and it’s about where the parasites came from and are generally asked by the parasites themselves. This is never answered but Mr Goto believed that they were there because of mankind’s own desire to stop themselves, as they see themselves as not only a threat to the planet and all life on it but also a threat to their own existence.
Given the nature of the movies CGI is heavily used and for the most part is very good though it does take a while to get used to Migi. Migi is Shinichi’s right hand and if you see the model of Migi, that’s exactly how it looks, so it’s less the GCI that makes it look odd but rather the physical model used. Aside from that, other parasites when they transform part of their body look great and fight scenes, in particular, are a highlight of the movies. I like the visual style choice for both movies as they use a very grayscale tone throughout and the dull washout look really works with the emotional void parasites that Shinichi is up against. The release features both 2.0 and 5.1 Japanese audio options as well as a Making Of featurette that is a pretty interesting watch.
Verdict
It’s very clear that the two movies that make up the story of Parasyte in this live-action adaptation go hand in hand. While part two may be the more engaging story-wise it was obviously set up that way. The slow first half of part two was probably the most enjoyable for me personally because we really get to see what Ryoko has been up to and how parasites are now integrating into society. There’s still plenty of action like part one but it was definitely not the focus of this movie. All in all, it was a great continuation of the story and I’d definitely recommend picking both parts if you’re a fan of horror/sci-fi.
Review copy provided by Animatsu Entertainment