Director: Kurando Mitsutake
Year: 2016
Country: Japan/USA
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Action
Plot:
Upon arriving in Los Angeles, master fighter Kenji (Hayate) begins to look for his sister Mayumi (Mana Sakura) only to learn that she's fallen victim to a snuff-film peddling cult in the area. Following the cult's trail to Texas, he finds the leader Vandenski (Kirk Geiger) and his assistant Simona (Katarina Leigh Waters) holding her and several others hostage at their compounding ready to include them in their online peddling. After meeting with Keiko (Asami) a survivor of the cult's activities and bearing a grudge against them in order to take them down once and for all, the two team-up to take on the vicious group in order to save his sister and the stop the cult's movements.
Review:
For the most part, this was an exceptionally fun grindhouse-style action effort. One of the more impressive features here is the manner in which this one introduces the martial arts prowess of it's lead star. The continuous fighting here allows Hayate to demonstrate his skill-set rather easily, from the shorter brawls where he wipes out the foe with relative ease to the hard-hitting extended fights that showcase a greater variance on his skills, he comes off as an effective and brutal fighter which plays well with the rest of the brutality and carnage depicted in the majority of the action on display. Most of that comes from the snuff videos they feature on the website which engages in plenty of abjuct mutilation and torture yet the fighting style he employs is just as worthy as that gives him plenty of chances to rip off ears, break fingers or arms or beat others quite severely.
Still, the film's at its best moments during the frenzied finale where the brief raid on the compound and the double-cross that arrives where it sets up the online fight within the truck which is exceptionally enjoyable not just from a move-set perspective but the whole streaming aspect that plays into how it goes down. The online interaction gives this a solid way to interact with what's going on and give it a bit of suspense to the fight, and with the way it moves into the final take-down of the cult with the different battles throughout the compound taking the leadup to the last battle which concludes this with all the brutal, bloody fighting that's been prominent throughout the film. That grindhouse style is such a fun component to the movie, and along with the fine nudity amply supplied by those well-qualified to deliver it, there's a lot to like here.
The main flaw to be found here in the film is the main threat that's encountered is quite weak. The main cult here is a complete mystery as to what they're actually involved with or how everybody came together, how they actually manage to operate outside of the authority or how any of the people are willing to follow the leader who's a complete joke. The ranting and bugged-out raving he goes on makes for a few decent moments, but it really comes undone by the finale when you realize he hasn't been involved in too much before and is then dispatched with such ease in their final fight that it really devalues his threat to a point. A character in this kind of setup should be a big threat to overcome as the genre lives or dies on its main villain and that's a big dragging point since the items on their site are far more vicious and cruel than what transpires on film itself. Still, it's not as bad that it's a detrimental aspect in the slightest.
Overview: ****/5
As an over-the-top brutal action-packed martial arts film, this one works on plenty of levels without too many flaws to hold it down. This is highly recommended for fans of brutal action or grindhouse-style movies, while those that are put off by the cover art or style should still go into this one.
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