Unfortunately the film isn’t so much to write home about.
In the storyline we’ve got a four girl defence team, armed with swords and fists, fighting evil villains from a parallel world. The bad guys are conspiring with politicians to allow firearms and nuclear energy – two things successfully banned in our world. The girls disguise themselves as touring idols and try to find a way to block the portals from which the bad guys enter.
The good: quite unexpectedly there’s some hilarious political satire throughout the film, and even criticism on idol culture. The end fight features some catchy parts, including the fun slow motion effect seen in the 70’s and 80’s Sonny Chiba movies, and well, the girls are cute. The film also looks alright, aside cheap special effects, and features no CGI blood – in fact, there is no blood at all despite the sword kills.
The bad: the action choreography is ultra-flashy with the girls performing cool poses and moves that serve little logical purpose. Rina Takeda is the only one who convinces as a fighter, though athlete Rumi Hanai does provide some cool (but rather nonsensical) acrobatic moments. Worse yet, talented real martial artists are employed as villains, which makes most of the heroines look less convincing in comparison.
The storyline contains tiresome drama about appreciating love, happiness and own identity. The climax is so cliched and illogical that it pretty much hurts brains. Despite the original premise, much of the movie really feels like a combination of bits and pieces from other movies: themes on the soundtrack frequently resemble other movies, the long haired villain seems to have been lifted from Azumi, and so on. The idol act doesn’t quite convince either: the girls’ single song is instantly forgettable, and only the ex-ABK Kayano (super-cute, btw) possesses real idol stage energy…
Verdict: plastic idol action film resembles director Kaneko’s earlier film Azumi 2 is a lot of ways. A couple of nice ideas marred with mostly unconvincing action and unengaging drama. Too bad, I would've loved to like this.
Pics from Yubari World Premiere
(from the left: Kaneko, Hanai, Takeda, Seino, Kayano, and two whose name I don't remember)
