Hâdo ribenji, Mirî

Violent and very bloody and whilst not being particularly original, enjoyable, principally, I think for two main reasons; it is not overlong and it stars a gorgeous Miki Mizuno, who plays and fights her part superbly. She is the feature that keeps this monster on the road but it is also the considered direction, the believable characters and the storyline that is more involving and believable than that in say, the more celebrated, Machine Girl. A pulsating movie with as much blood flowing as you could wish for and some quite splendid hand to hand and worse fight scenes. From the downbeat opening in a ruined Yokohama landscape to the ambiguous ending, this barely puts a flying foot wrong.

The gore is over the top in this one...and pressurized to one hundred and fifty psi. It is set in a post apocalyptic wasteland of the cheapest outdoor sets that the producer could find. The usual crazed over the top post-apocalyptic gangsters run this wasteland. Milly, a woman best described as angry and bionic is seeking revenge in this wasteland.

The fight scenes in this low-budget digital film are pretty good, well choreographed with lots of fun new ways to lacerate someone. Miki Mazuno is gorgeous, even though she looks as if she doesn't want to be. I guess the movie can best be described as a female Japanese Max Max.

If gore-effects don't make you queasy, this can be a fun movie; and, at a run-time of less than fifty minutes, you probably won't have to get up in the middle of the movie for a bathroom break...

A very nice japanese, Super Hero movie; concerning a lady with a host of metalic parts. Not cursed by Western 'Political Correctness', or held back by any sort of moral codes. Only clocks in at a very slim 45 minutes but a rollercoaster of delightful intent.

HARD REVENGE MILLY is a cheap and cheerful Japanese sci-fi/gore effort, shot on digital video and clocking in at just 45 minutes. Most of the film was shot in some abandoned warehouse somewhere and the film generally has an amateurish feel to it. However, it's a million light years ahead of the Korean TEENAGE HOOKER BECAME A KILLING MACHINE, which is one of the earliest of these 'Asian machine part girl' gore flicks.

The storyline is a simple story of revenge with a small cast and little acting ability to distract from the violence. A girl is attacked, mutilated and left for dead by a gang of thugs, her family slaughtered. Somehow she comes back to life, animated by machine, and goes to wreak vengeance on those responsible. The narrative is limited and there are a lot of holes, but this isn't about the story.

Instead, it's a film that seeks to serve up as many gory deaths as is possible within the slim running time. Bodies are hacked up, heads are severed, and there's an extended martial arts battle to end all battles. Japanese blood sprays abound, and it all looks very fake and unbelievable, but it's kind of fun nonetheless. A feature-length sequel, HARD REVENGE MILLY: BLOODY BATTLE, would follow.

I bought the "Hard Revenge, Milly" double feature (also including "Hard Revenge, Milly: Bloody Battle" DVD from Amazon simply because it was a Japanese action movie with an appealing (and bloody) DVD cover. And it turned out to be one of the better purchases I had done in a while. Not only did it contain two Japanese movies, but it was some of the nicer movies of this particular bloody genre that I had seen in some time.

The story in "Hard Revenge, Milly" was straight to the point, dropping you in on the action and giving you a good, solid background story for the main character, Milly. Her family was brutally tortured and murdered by a group of psychopaths and Milly was stabbed, mutilated and left for dead. But miraculously she survived and is bent on revenge. Fairly easy storyline, but it was actually surprisingly nice.

What made the movie even more enjoyable than a good story was the well-choreographed action sequences and the great effects. That really surprised me, especially from a gore movie of this Japanese gore genre. Sure there is the traditional over-the-top blood fountain spraying (as in all the other movies of this genre).

But even more so, "Hard Revenge, Milly" had some really nice and professional acting, compared to others of the same genre, it was just that one notch above what is usually seen in the genre. And especially Miki Mizuno (who plays Milly) really pulled off the movie nicely with her performance; her acting was great and she knows how to fight. So it was a real treat to sit through the movie, even though it was only about 45 minutes or so.

"Hard Revenge, Milly" was beautifully shot and a real visual treat to behold. Even though being a Japanese bloodfest/gore movie, the movie had a big-time Hollywood production feel to it. It was really nice to see this kind of production value in this genre of movies.

If you like action movies with lots of adrenaline, martial arts and gunfights, and if you like Asian cinema, then you cannot, and I emphasize on cannot, cheat yourself from watching "Hard Revenge, Milly", because the movie is amazing.

Great action, lots of fighting and violence, enough gore to keep most gorehounds satisfied, good storyline and genuine entertainment. "Hard Revenge, Milly" was really a hidden gem that I had no clue about before stumbling upon it by sheer luck. The only downside to "Hard Revenge, Milly" was the length of the movie, it was just too short.