If you aren't familiar with the Zeiram franchise, take your favorite Saturday Morning action cartoon from the 1980's, adapt it to live action, and add HR Giger-like R rated special effects to it. Zeiram 2 continues that formula of taking campy action packed fun and adding impressive horror special effects to it.
Zeiram 2 covers a lot of the same group as the original but you can tell that director Keita Amemiya feels a lot more comfortable with the material. The main character Iria is a bad ass space bounty hunter in both, but she comes across as a lot more friendly and relatable in this sequel than in the first film. The Zeiram monster is impressive in both movies, but monster lends itself to better action sequences in the second movie and far more horrific scenes involving the biological elements in the sequel. The fight scenes between Iria and the Zeiram are better choreographed and varied in the second movie. Outside of the iconic opening of the first film, which is probably the peak of the entire franchise, the second movie is a plain better movie overall.
Do you need to see the first movie to enjoy the original? The second movie assumes that you've seen the original. The concept of "The Zone" is explained in the first movie and the second movie just assumes that you know how it works. The second movie expands on the character relationships of the first movie. If you can watch both movies, then watch both movies. If you can only watch one movie then Zeiram 2 is the way to go.
Judging Zeiram 2 as a stand alone film away from it's franchise, they don't make action movies like this anymore. No one uses practical effects like this anymore. No one makes movies with this kind mix of PG tone and R rated violence at the same time. I'm reviewing this movie in 2022, and as such I think that Zeiram 2 is a worth while sci-fi action movie that stands as a cool hidden gem from an era that is gone and is no longer coming back.
