This movie is based on a Manga. That's a Japanese comic book for those who are not familiar. True to genre, the violence and the characters are quite stylized. Contemplative glances followed by brutal graphical violence are there also. The fight scenes are quite interesting but the plot is not. It's rather thin, and I think the characters in this movie take themselves way to seriously. That's the big difference between this movie and say Versus. The middle was a bust. There was this whole love thing with this gas station attendant that just went on and on and on. Not to mention I can hardly follow the subplot with him. Over all it's neatly shot so it's good to look at but it lacks something to make it a good film. Manga and Anime are difficult genres to translate to film.