Zero Woman: Keishichô 0-ka no onna

One of the better "sexy-action" thrillers to come out of the V-Cinema days of 90s Japan.

Though, to call it an "action" film would do it a disservice. It is fairly low-budget, and therefore turns to artistic and technically creative ways to imply gun violence. And it turns out, what could have been a major drawback is actually one of its greatest strengths. Specifically, the final duel, which is done with character specific colored lighting splashing across the walls to imply gunshots, is a joy to watch.

The plot is fairly interesting, if a bit muddled, but really only serves to connect a hypnotic series of assassination, sex, murder, and bdsm torture sequences, all of which are executed with a level of artistic touch that is uncommon for this kind of thing.

That being said, it still bears the marks of low-budget straight-to-video fare; uneven acting, occasionally clumsy stunts, and the feeling that they only did one take. But it succeeds far more often than it fails.

Chances are, you already know if you're going to like it. And if you're even a bit curious, it makes a decent entry point for the sexy-action thrillers of 90s Japan.

The first movie in a long-running Japanese series (ignore the American "Final Mission" add-on to the title). Rei, the heroine, is a secret agent working for Section Zero of the police department - a section specializing in the execution of bad people that are beyond or above the reach of the law. After successfully completing a couple of missions, Rei decides to take some time off to relax along with a couple of friends. But when they all witness a murder committed by the daughter of a powerful politician, they become his targets in his attempts to hush up the whole story. The plot is quite sketchy at points and the pacing is almost torturously slow, but Naoko Iijima (Rei) just about makes the film worth seeing: great face, great (rare but cute) smile, great body, great (red) hair, and experienced, comfortable handling of her guns (sure, she gets captured a bit too easily in the second half, but that's obviously a flaw of the script, not hers). She is gorgeous in every way, but be warned: this is a VERY slow movie that feels a lot longer than its 80-minute running time. (**)

Not as well defined as the others, nevertheless this film entertains with shooting, sex, nudity, and some bondage and torture.

The is a first film for Naoko Iijima. The main character (Rei) changes in every film in the series. I wish I knew why they did that, but we get to see a selection of beautiful Japanese women, and Naoko Iijima is certainly one of the best.

The sex is confined to Yumi (Miho Suzuki), the daughter of a Japanese VIP who has connections everywhere. She likes them young and is in to S & M. Daddy covers up her crimes, including murder, with the help of the police.

Strange ending for Zero Woman. Maybe the "Final Mission" part only refers to this star, but then all of them would be "Final Missions."

The heroine of this flick is naked or topless for half the film, and killing or maiming people in gruesome ways for half of it. These halves are not mutually exclusive, either- there's a bit of overlap. It ain't a work of cinematic art, but it is a work of trashy cinematic art.

I didn't expect anything much more than nudity and violence, and that's what I got. That said, this is a pretty fun film and better than most of this type.

After reading the review by Nishiki, I was expecting at least 45 minutes of a topless Misayo Haruki.

I saw the 83 minute version (8 minutes longer than the 75 minute duration shown here) and while she is shown topless in one shower scene, you can only see "something" for about 41 seconds. Most of that 41 seconds is her bare back, or her hands covering her breasts.

It's really interesting how Nishiki can be so far off on his estimate of her being "nude or topless for half the movie".

Nishiki, comments? Actually, it was a pretty lame movie. I had the choice to see this or National Treasure and I think I chose incorrectly.