ok, I watched the film a couple of months ago and I've been meaning to translate my
Finnish review but it doesn't seem like I'll ever have time, plus now that it's out on UK dvd I don't have that much motivation either. So, in short:
Film
+ Rina Takeda's face is cute
+ Seiji Chiba films earn from sympathy points for always featuring the same cast (Masanori Mimoto, Mitsuki Koga...), same locations, and essentially being set in the same universe. There's something cool about that
+ The final fight isn't too shabby, plus there's a few nice bits on the soundtrack
- The film heavily underperforms its action duties - the finale is the only real action scene, preceded by a couple of very brief fights
- The storyline is non-existent and action free - mainly meaningless dialogue for 60 minutes
- The film looks like home video - cheap digital video, cheap locations, and the same fucking cave in a 3rd Chiba film in a row
- AvN star Masanori Mimoto has shaved his beard - and his charisma with it
- Wasted female ninja potential - Takeda's character is ninja only by definition
- The theme song is played at the end of end credits, rather than at the beginning. Half of the audience will walk out before it even begins...
2 Disc R2J
+ Beautiful package with glossy cardboard sleeve
- Perhaps due to source materials, the transfer displays exceptional amount of ghosting throughout. Taking screencaptures of any scenes with movement was next to impossible as every sigle frame with even slight movement displays ghosting.
- Extras are underwhelming and quite average
* Making of (20 min)
* Action making of (14 min)
* NG 12 (min)
* Premiere at Theater N (7 min)
* Original trailer
* Booklet
Verdict
Not entirely bad - with Takeda, Chiba requlars, and a female ninja theme I'd even dare to say I liked it just a little bit. But it's crearly disappointing - nowhere near Takeda's recent K.G. and even falling behind Chiba's previous kunoichi film Nukenin. The hugely enjoyable Alien vs Ninja appears to be an exception on Chiba's career - to the extent one must wonder who really directed it? Action choreographer Yuji Shimomura's input in AvN certainly should not be under-estimated - here Chiba collaborates with Kensuke Sonomura who can't match his own terrific work in Hard Revenge Milly: Bloody Battle.
2/5
R2J caps
Ghosting
Making of
Action making of
Premiere
