flyingchimpanzee

A lighthearted and violence-happy tone is given to this video game turned feature by darkside-loving German director Uwe Boll. Lacking in original dialog and story the film relies instead on the now tired idea of sending up hackneyed slasher film plots. A group of clueless, self indulgent, over-sexed teens have a rave on a deserted island. And guess what? The island is crawling with low budget zombies. These zombies however move incredibly quickly and there's an overwhelming swarm of them. The film is peppered with naked beauties, bullet ballets, a pounding electronic score and some fairly decent martial arts by a cute Asian character named Liberty. And there's one brilliant sequence showing one character's rapidly cut remembrance of the entire evening's happenings. However none of this is enough to completely cover for the lazy script, substandard acting and the not so special effects.

Mae Clarke plays rookie reporter Anne Woodman who's determined to get respect as both a reporter and a girlfriend from condescending editor Sam Bradshaw (Pat O'Brien). Through feminine wiles and an obvious talent for sleuthing Anne manages to gain access to the criminal gang involved in an important murder investigation.

Loads of newspaperman flash is used to enliven this standard story of a female reporter trying to prove her worth, solve the case and win her man. Fast talking editors, bustling, sleep-deprived reporters, dozens of urgently ringing telephones and spinning newspaper overlays are just a few of the fancy tricks used to dazzle the viewers eyes and ears. I do recommend Final Edition however some slightly wooden acting, stilted dialog and a weak climax keep this from being a better effort.

I saw a Mandarin dubbed English subtitled version of this film intended for Chinese audiences christened LADY TIGER AND SWORD.

Sister Oichi is a blind swordswoman hired to carry an important scroll of unknown contents, (since she can't see them), to a local scientist. On the journey she helps a pair of homeless teenage siblings and is challenged by a great number of swordsmen who try to take the scroll from her. We eventually learn that the scroll contains a formula for a powerful bomb. A wicked government general has sent an army to attain the scroll against the 13 year old emperor's wishes for the bomb not to be used as a military weapon.

This is another of the many, and understandably, post Hiroshima `big bombs are bad' film plots. CRIMSON BAT may be a poor man's ZATOICHI but Yoko Matsuyama's portrayal of Sister Oichi is pretty fine. Okay so she's no Junko Fuji (Red Peony Gambler) but she has a sweet motherly face which adds an unusual element to her bloody fights. The action & pacing are decent and the setting and costumes are quite lovely.