Zero Woman is an awesome series of movies about a female secret agent who handles the assignments no one else wants. Known as Rei, the had hitting, female is a loner who does not fear the opposite sex and who fights for what is right.
The distinctive aspect of the Zero Woman series is that each movie features a different actress playing the title role of Rei, bringing an ever evolving aspect to each movie. One movie involves a cold-blooded Rei while another involves a more emotional character.
Needless to say, I am an avid fan of the four Zero Woman titles from Asia Pulp Cinema and its parent company Central Park Media. This series of flims is great for real movie buffs like me who actually enjoy seeing pulp movies that actually have good storylines, lots of blood and hard-boiled action. And I just didn’t want the series to end, luckily I found out Tokyo Shock and its parent company, Media Blasters, had a line of Zero Woman movies, too!
Media Blaster's Zero Woman also follows the trend of different characters playing the lead role of Rei, who in this film is assiged to rescue a witness of a brutal crime who is kidnapped by the Yakuza. All hell breaks loose as Rei ends up taking on the lethal Japanese mob. There is lots of blood, lots of shooting and no shortage of intensity, not to mention, sex, sex, sex!
Some of my favorite scenes occur in a deli of some kind, where Rei goes to purchase cocaine undercover. The owner tries to rape her and kicks her gun away as he attacks her in the back of a meat locker. With no other recourse for escape, Rei bites down on a big chunk of meat, pulls it down and uses the hook, slamming it right into the dude’s crotch!
While she may not have wanted sex from that guy, this Rei is a little on the horny side, much more than her other incarnations. She comes on to her handler, who in previous installments, is detested by Rei. She doesn’t really enjoy killing and likes to be held after one of her missions. She stays having sex and even goes to bed with her backup for the mission, before learning anything about him. I think there is more nudity in this film’s first 20 minutes than in all the other films combined.
There is also a lot of drama, as $10 million in stocks are stolen by would be gangsters and the Yakuza will do anything to get it back, even hire an ally of Rei’s to do so--and then kidnap that ally’s girlfriend, rape her and demand the stocks back in exchange for her safe return, rather than pay the man for his hard work! These guys are pretty despicable! In fact, Rei’s heartless use of the gun pales in comparison to the villainous ways of almost every character in this film. What people will do for greed is twisted and downright awful. You will be shocked.
There are also funny moments, like when Rei is chasing a suspect for blocks and blocks and both just stop to take a drink of water before she interrogates him about the stocks. Little moments like this are a breath of fresh air in such a violent film.
All in all, Zero Woman has all the ingredients of a hit film franchise. Already, this new tale showed me more about Zero Woman than any other film did and there are still have two more movies left to review! You know I’m excited...WOO HOO!!!
Send your comments and or questions to Bandwidth@ybfree.com.