So this is my watch of a second Kirando Mitsutake film (actually 3rd since he apparently made Machine Gun girl which I got like a decade ago but really dont remember it).
I delved into this after watch Gun Woman (which was mostly great IMO). I also watched the documentary Survival of the Film Freaks which talks about cult movies and lower budget indie films. With that in my ai get the sense that this is suppose to be a pseudo retro homage throwback to some sort of those cult movies or cheesy martial art film's from the 70s and 80s. However I'm not a film freak and I have only seen a limited number of these films. It would be gotten from the name Karate Kills lol.
All that in mind I took this film to mean the cookie cutter plot (Martial Arts master Goes to Save His Kidnapped By A Cult Sister) story was intentional. The cheesy flashbacks and dialog where he promises to become a karate master and protect her is probably a homage to a few films and tropes and it's all good. The ton of dialog and flexing before a martial arts fight is def a homage.
There was surprisingly pretty good acting by a few of the persons. I really enjoyed the Cult Leaders acting. He was superb. The lead was good. Everyone else was decent, there was a fee cheesy/campy disposable actors that I think we're intentional like the first guy he beats up in LA or the bar scene in TX.
The fights are great! I dont know the main guys background but the martial arts fights were high quality choreographed and at one point the main guy does some parlour. So part of me thinks this person may be a stuntman. Additionally there was just the right amount of gore and violence...unlike Gun Woman which even I thought was extremely gore-y and bloody this had a nice balance that was reminiscent of those 70s martial arts films but updated to 2000s Kill Bill techniques. Although there was digital gun shots and digital blood in some parts that we're noticeable.
One downside is that Asami's onscreen time is too short for my liking. I like her character and wished to see a bit more.
As with my review of Gun Woman there seems som unexplained nudity. I suppose if you are making a throwback you do need boobs. Though again I'm American and nudity is treated weird here than other parts of the world. Though I kinda question why in SOME scenes it's there. Cultural differences but a good thing to note for some conservative, religious, and oppressed feminists types
Anyway I enjoyed the film.
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