XX: Utsukushiki karyuudo

Adopted at a young age, "Shion" (Makiko Kuno) was raised to be an assassin for a religious cult which also doubles as a crime syndicate. However, during one of her missions a target named "Ito" (Johnny Okara) manages to escape and carries with him photos that could destroy the crime syndicate. As a result, Shion pursues Ito with the intention of retrieving the photos and killing him. However, when she finally corners him, she suddenly has a change of heart and lets him live. One thing leads to another and soon they become romantically involved--and this creates a terrible situation for both of them. Now rather than reveal any more of this movie I will just say that it had one really good thing going for it-the presence of Makiko Kuno who was absolutely stunning. Unfortunately, there were some scenes that I thought were a bit too graphic--and in some cases simply unnecessary-which ended up hurting the movie somewhat. But other than that I thought everything else was pretty good. That said, I rate this movie as slightly above average.

Plotting and logic are not this film's strongest points: just the usual story of a female assassin (with impossibly good aim) who falls in love with one of her targets and wants to start a new life, but in this line of business "There's No Easy Way Out", as that song in "Rocky IV" said. Basically, "Beautiful Hunter" is an exercise in perversity: of the two main characters, the woman caresses her own naked body with a gun, gets whipped, electrocuted and kills about 20 people, while the man performs oral sex on her to save his life (!), gets shot multiple times and stabbed in the neck with a pen. The female lead is compelling, but this film needed a stronger script to work. By the way, I watched the dubbed version, and the dubbing is surprisingly unobtrusive. (**)

I saw this movie a while back and it still sticks out in my head. Especially this one bizarre scene where the female assassin is being tortured by the church for betraying them, some weird looking lady takes this electric tazzer like stick, after electrocuting the poor half-naked girl she shoves the electric zapper between her legs, i couldn't tell if she was in pain or having an orgasm, it was the weirdiest scene i've ever seeen in my life. The whole story is weird, all and all i thought could have been better. Get the DVD which is in English, because the VHS is only available in japanese without any subtitles.

There is not a lot of story here: woman becomes a hit-man for a blind "priest" who leads a crime family. She is caught on camera by a third-rate news photographer. She falls in love with him.

But, there are three interesting details about the movie that made it somewhat interesting.

First, the incredibly beautiful Japanese star, Makiko Kuno. She also makes the movie worth watching.

Secondly, as many times as i have seen someone begging for their life, I have never seen a situation like the one in this movie. Let's just say that Johnny Okura used his tongue for more than words and hit the jackpot.

Finally, there is the torture when Kuno was caught. I do not think the CIA will rendition any Americans to japan for torture. Despite the use of an electrified prod as a dildo, the fact that Kuno and Okura could make love once they escaped shows that Maiko Kazama is not a good torturer.

Despite the fact that I did not find this one great, I will be looking for more Makiko Kuno under directors Kiyoshi Kurosawa and Takashi Miike.

Bred all her life to be an assassin, Shion is the best at what she does. But when she develops a conscience for no reason whatsoever, choosing to go home and masturbate with her gun rather than kill her mark, her clergy bosses ( Yup they're involved in this too, the bad clergy is pretty much a groan-worthy movie cliché now) are none too happy and mark her for death. This flick was somewhat of a chore to sit through and really doesn't make much sense if you think about it. Pure mindless drivel.

My Grade: D

DVD Extras: Character bios; Trivia game; and Theatrical Trailer; Trailers for "Beautiful Beast", "Dimension Travelers", "Tokyo Mafia: Yakuza Wars", "Blowback: Love and Death", and Zero Woman: Assassin Lovers"

DVD Rom: Photo gallery, Cast info, Script, Production credits and weblinks

Eye Candy: Makiko Kuno gets topless multiple times