Gonin 2

I have no idea what the original GONIN is, having never seen or heard anything about it, but when I saw this unconnected sequel for sale I decided to snap it up, having long been a fan of both Japanese cinema and gangster movies. The blurb on the box promised an action-packed outing, but GONIN 2 turns out to be a crushing disappointment, a badly made girls vs. gangsters story that has very poor production values and everything else besides.

On paper, the storyline must have looked good; a story about an ordinary guy, driven beyond his ordinary world into an odyssey of violence, teaming up with a gang of gun-toting women to tackle a group of ruthless gangsters. What it all boils down to is some low-rent melodrama, lots of supposedly arty shots of swirling smoke and dimly-lit room interiors, and more talk than content. Despite the promise of an adrenaline-charged premise, there's little suspense here and even the film's most violent and shocking scenes are muted and easy to miss.

Ken Ogata bags the most interesting role as the vengeful husband, but he isn't given a great deal of screen time and despite being the most developed character in the film, we learn little about him. Aside from one or two slimy faces, the villains are a bland bunch and the girl gang even worse, most of them interchangeable and required to appear in order to disrobe on film and for little other reason. The acting makes no impact whatsoever, and Takashi Ishii's lacklustre direction saps the narrative of both vitality and intrigue. It's a pointless little movie.

Fun movie with a new original story. It isn't a continuation of the previous movie, but the themes are still relatable enough to make it feel like a sequel. The catchy theme song is also back. Characters are not as memorable as in the original (the girls seem to have very similar looks and personalities, also no Kitano this time), but the performances are pretty convincing to make me feel all the tension and the action is cool. Glad I gave this a rewatch, this movie deserves a little more attention.

Gonin 2 suffers from its narrative's aimlessness and implausibilities; paper-thin, mostly unsympathetic characters; and cinematography, lacking the first film's precision and slickness. Ken Ogata is squandered. Bottom line: Notwithstanding a handful of admirable moments, it's a slightly exploitive crime caper flick that appears insipid and sloppy next to the first.

Awful just awful. Some terrible scenes with poor acting bad directing and incomprehensible plot-line. The interesting cohesion between the two plot lines was destroyed by plot flaws in both. Rape scenes and ridiculous pseudo-feminism also add to this movies lack of believability. Awful, just awful.

Takashi Ishii's GONIN really blew me away when I saw the dreadful Ocean Shores DVD many moons ago - I think my review at the time contained phrases like "masterpiece" and "hard to fault in any way". I've got the UK DVD (which is hopefully an improvement on the HK disc) waiting to be watched, and am curious to find if it holds up as well as I remembered it, or maybe its flaws were masked by the presentation. I have my suspicions because the other Takashi Ishii movies I've seen haven't been nearly as cool as I remember GONIN being. GONIN 2 being an example.

GONIN was about 5 guys who tried to steal some Yakuza money, GONIN 2 flips the genders but presents a similar scenario. 5 quite different women find themselves caught up in a jewellery robbery, and strange turns of circumstance see them running off with a case full of jewels and the Yakuza on their tails. It's a mixture of feminine bonding experience and nasty yakuza violence.

GONIN 2 shares a certain low-budget feel with BLACK ANGEL, though perhaps not quite as low. It starts off a little slowly and awkwardly, but becomes progressively darker and more perverse as time passes, to the point where it becomes almost inspirational. The 5 girls are all interesting characters (and cute, naturally), each with their own back story that made the act of desparation and possible escape a valid choice for them at that moment in time. The Yakuza on their tales are (luckily for them) mostly quite a thick bunch - but vicious and persistent too. An enigmatic figure with a long coat and a sword also gets entwined in their fate.

The movie has a certain amount of style-on-a-budget charm, and a darkness & perversion that is uniquely Japanese. It takes quite a while to really get anywhere, but develops enough momentum to engage the viewer eventually, and ultimately proves worth watching, if not unforgettable.