Zero Woman: Abunai yûgi

Looking for some Japanese action in this movie will leave you very hungry. This is the sixth installment of Zero Woman, based on Japanese comics. It's certainly no Batman; and that's a good thing.

Sure, there are some great shots of Chieko Shiratori, who is assigned to guard a mobster's girl (Ichiho Matsuda), but there is little in the way of action. They start off as enemies, but all that talk eventually leads to some action, except that it is in the last 10 minutes.

This film could fit nicely on the Lifetime network, as the two women spend most of the movie talking. Even when it cuts to the mobsters, they are just talking. Talk, talk, talk.

Some of the film is very grainy and, of course, it is in Japanese with no subtitles. There are some funny moments with the mobster in drag, but lack of real action means major snooze.

This is a very, very dull and talky film that seems to be based on the classic Hollywood Noir film, THE NARROW MARGIN. In both, a mobster's girlfriend is scheduled to testify against him and her life is worthless. This time, however, the mobster is in charge of a black market human organ ring! So it's up to our hero (who plays the part like a zombie most of the time) to save this rather annoying and banal lady.

One of the only interesting, though totally irrelevant aspects of the film, is the mob boss. He's a weird old guy who likes to dress in drag--and in the most amazing costumes. They are so flamboyant and silly, at least this offers a few odd diversions whenever he appears. Plus, he's totally crazy and offered a few surprises. The other interesting diversion is all the gratuitous nudity--some of which is very violent and stupid. Don't watch it for the action, as there is very little and the violent action scenes are just dumb--often filmed in very grainy print and with tons of what looks like raspberry syrup for blood! There are many good Japanese films out there--so many that I just can't think of a good reason to watch this tripe.

My score of 3 is very, very generous.

This one is strictly for fans who want to see japan's action star Cheiko Shiratori nude, an event the script obliges us in the first ten minutes. After that, it's a routine story of a rogue cop protecting a mob witness. Yawn. There is a back story about a politician whose daughter needs a kidney and so he is turning a blind eye to the pervert mob boss's organ theft activities and hindering the investigation. Whatever. Not much here in the way of plot, just a lot of not very interesting banter between the bad girl gun moll and the super-bad girl cop. It also lacks the flashy action visuals typical of most Japanese crime movies, and notable earlier in this series. A waste of Cheiko and much of the viewer's time.

Rei's newest target is a human organ smuggling syndicate, and she is assigned to guard the mistress of the crime boss who runs it, after she decides to testify against him.

First, the good news: Chieko Shiratori is devastatingly gorgeous as Rei. All the different actresses who have played the role so far brought something of their own to it, and in Shiratori's case it is a calm, cool sense of superiority and assuredness. The relationship between Rei and the woman she's protecting is handled in a surprisingly tasteful manner - based less on lesbian lust and more on the need of these two lonely women to connect with someone. Unfortunately, the film is talky and dull. Those expecting an action film will be majorly disappointed. At times, the image changes from "normal" shot-on-video to super-grainy, for no discernible reason. And then there's the main villain, who is weird for the sake of being weird, and never interesting: almost every scene involving him is a complete waste of time. If "Zero Woman: Dangerous Game" had (many) more scenes of Shiratori shooting people, I might have given it even *** out of 4 stars; as it is now, it is too dull to recommend, and I'll go with *1/2.

Confronted with an illegal organ-harvesting operation the Japanese police basically has two choices at their disposal. The first option involves sending in an assassin from "Section Zero" by the name of "Rei" (Chieko Shiratori) to essentially liquidate every person involved. The second choice centers on obtaining reliable testimony in which to indict and convict those responsible. Based on the fact that a woman named "Nana" (Ichiho Matsuda) is the mistress of the mob leader in charge and has agreed to testify against him the second option is given precedence. However, it remains to be seen whether the information she has is credible enough to convict the insane mob leader named "Kaneda" (Masayoshi Nogami). Likewise, keeping Nana alive long enough to testify is another major concern. As a result, Rei is ordered to temporarily guard Nana which becomes an ordeal for both of them as time progresses. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that the directors (Hidekazu Takahara and Arlen Tarlofsky) had two attractive actresses and an interesting concept to work with. Yet despite the resources available to them the end result lacked the action, suspense and eroticism necessary for an adequate sequel. Throw in a bizarre subplot involving a bisexual drag queen and the overall effect was not something I found to be enjoyable. Maybe it's a cultural thing. In any case, I found this movie to be rather dull. Because of that I have rated this film accordingly. Slightly below average.