I saw this yesterday in Tokyo.
The good news that is I can't imagine anyone getting bored with this. There's almost nothing but karate, violence, and boobs. It's also shot on much better quality digital video and has better lighting than Gun Woman. And don't be fooled by the Japanese R15 rating; that just means that there's no necrophilia or full frontal nudity. It's a strong '18' by any other country's standards.
The bad news is that in some ways, it is a step back from Gun Woman. While Gun Woman really benefitted from its genius plot concept, this one is more of a standard "save the kidnapped sister" affair, although with a semi-interesting "gore for online junkies" theme. Cinematography is also less innovative, there's frequent CGI blood in gunplay scenes, and Harada's score is weaker. It feels like a DTV film.
Hayate is alright in the lead; he's one of those guys whose muscles are bigger than his charisma. Impressive karate, solid choreography, and quite clearly captured on camera, but unfortunately Mitsutake is no martial arts aficionado. He should have exploited the martial arts angle more, with more fights, more training scenes, more philosophy. Now it is, as he said, like Dirty Harry's Magnum .44: a frequently used tool.
Fun movie, but I expected more after Gun Woman. I might see it again next year (!) when it lands a theatre in my neighbourhood to see it with adjusted expectations.
Asami, Hayate, Mitsutake
