Tetsuo II: Body Hammer (1992)

Perfectly adorable

Just so...so bad

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

Tetsuo 2 May not have the intensity, or the abstract lunacy like the original, but damn it all to hell it is still a beautifully made and perfectly thought out cyberpunk movie. The only problem I have is the music. Not only is it extremely cheesy but it's sound level is really low and doesn't help make the action scenes profound. Maybe it's the DVD. I don't know. But the film's cinematography, story, cyberpunk elements and so forth rules ass.

The original Tetsuo: the Iron Man was a pretty unforgettable film. Shot in intense black and white and very pure in its intentions, it was an avant-garde sci-fi horror movie. An immediate cult film. With the follow up, director Shin'ya Tsukamoto has made a film which is more a remake than a true sequel. In this one, he shoots in colour and tries to incorporate a story of sorts. Although, this is a relative statement, as this is still a very weird film and it hardly adheres to cinematic storytelling norms. In essence it is once again about a man turning into a cyborg.Like the first it's visually very striking indeed. It seems to have influenced an awful lot of industrial bands from the 90's, seeing as many of their videos mimic the imagery found in this one. It's soundtrack I guess adds to this seeing as it is full on rock a lot of the time. As a piece of visual art Tetsuo II is a success. However, I do not think it reaches the same level as the original movie, which for my money was such an original piece of work it is hard to outdo. I think the introduction of more story here is also to the film's detriment. The story gets in the way, something you could never accuse the original film of. Still, this remains a pretty intense experience.

Tetsuo II: The body hammer has a really cool title and after seeing the first one, I was very excited to watch it. Unfortunately I was very disappointed. Tetsuo II like many other reviewers have noted, spends a lot more time developing a plot.What is the plot? Tetsuo's son and eventually himself and his wife get captured by some guys who are keen on cyber implants. While captured they hook up a helmet to Tetsuo's head that let's them choose what memories he thinks of. They decide to kill tetsuo but tetsuo gets angry and kills them instead. Other stuff happens too.What does this movie have to do with the original? Absolutely nothing! The original was a stunning visual story about a man transforming into metal. It was so abstract, the plot was up to interpretation, but most importantly it was fast paced and constantly challenging the viewer with fucked up imagery. In the second film Tetsuo apparently didn't go on a killing spree with his friend (as they mutually decided to at the end of the first film) In fact Tetsuo is now a family man with a wife and kid, and his enemy/friend from the first film (like everything else from the first film) doesn't even get mentioned.The biggest problem with Tetsuo II is that the fast pace of the first film was abbandoned. Now scenes last a long time and there is hardly any cool imagery. Remember all the amazing stop motion from the first film that looked as though it would have taken a lot of effort to accomplish? Apparently the director got sick of all the time and effort of stop motion, because this film, although it obviously has a higher budget than the first, has about a third of the stop motion.I believe Tetsuo I was such a sucess because even though the director didn't have a clear idea of the plot, the outstanding and inventive visuals carried the loose plot to interesting places. Tetsuo II on the other hand focused on a conventional plot without developing an interesting story first, resulting in a crappy incredable hulk rip off.If you saw the first Tetsuo you might as well see this, but don't expect much.two stars out of four

When I saw Tetsuo: Ironman this past January, I was amazed. While I had always been intrigued by the video's box, I had never heard anything about it. It blew me away with its visceral imagery and insanity. Now, finally, I've seen Tetsuo II. I gave the first one a 10/10 on imdb, and I give II a 9/10. This one is amazingly directed, filmed, acted, and developed. It has lost a bit of the first one's viscerality, and the plot is a bit more conventional (although it has just a few discernable conventions, like the rivalry between brothers in youth, the fact that one of them was good and one of them was evil, etc. Really, though, when you see it you'll probably not be thinking it conventional at all). Also, the first film's breakneck speed has been slowed down a little. In the first one, the plot was difficult, if not impossible, to understand. Body Hammer takes time to make us understand, and that is not necessarily a good thing. Still, Tetsuo II is a very great film. I just wish Shinya Tsukamoto had more films available in America!