Gun Woman (UK Blu-ray / DVD)

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Gun WomanStarring Asami, Kairi Narita, Noriaki Kamata, Matthew Floyd Miller, Dean Simone

Directed by Kurando Mitsutake

Distributed by Monster Pictures UK


The Mastermind (Narita) is one seriously angry man. Forced to watch his wife raped and murdered by a sadistic psychopath (Kamata) and then beaten so severely that he’s left crippled, the once mild-mannered doctor sets about enacting his ultimate plan for revenge.

Said plan involves the kidnapping of meth-addicted prostitute Mayumi (Asami) – herself an emotionally drained victim on the edge of society and poised to end her own life. Chaining her up, the Mastermind begins by putting her through cold turkey, ridding her of her addiction before commencing a gruelling series of training schemes in physical fitness, martial arts and gunplay.

She will be his assassin – a trained killing machine, capable of taking down the cannibalistic, necrophilia-loving villain who so savagely murdered his wife.

But it won’t be simple. The son of a wealthy, but now dead, serial killer, this particular villain keeps himself holed up in a swish home that is essentially an impenetrable fortress, protected by ruthless mercenaries. So the plan calls for something a little different: a gun will be disassembled and placed inside Mayumi’s body. Once she has reached her destination, she must remove the pieces, assemble the weapon, and execute everyone on-site – before she succumbs to blood loss.

Complete the mission and make it outside before exsanguination takes hold and she will be free to live the rest of her life as a US citizen. Fail… and she dies.

Ostensibly a Japanese production shot on Western shores, Kurando Mitsutake’s Gun Woman is the kind of gruelling blast of exploitation that feels plucked right out of the gamut of mid-late ’80s/’90s Category III fare. The low budget is evident throughout, but Mitsutake takes it in his stride, his choice of framing, montage and soundtrack all coming together to create a flick that wears its influences on its sleeve and knows exactly what kind of audience it’s after.

While the supporting cast range from just passable (mainly the cannon fodder bad guys) to theatrically well equipped (Kamata especially as the rabid antagonist), leading lady Asami deserves all of the special attention, here. Far from the more fantastical genre fare that she’s been making a name in throughout more recent years, her performance in Gun Woman is incredibly physical, demanding and striking. Spending almost the entire final third of the film completely naked, soaked in blood as she falls, rolls and leaps all over the place is appreciably brave. Her character barely speaks a line of dialogue throughout the entire film, with Mitsutake instead entrusting his lead with getting across her emotions through poise, expression and her tortured cries – and Asami pulls it off with suitable aplomb, even going so far as to cut off her own hair (for real) with a knife in order to make a tourniquet.

While the sadistic nature of the film is initially engaging, it has trouble finding its feet in the early stages. Rhythmically, the opening sequences feel a little too jazzy, unfocused and frustrating – but it soon falls into place and gets moving. Surrounding the actual story of the Mastermind’s revenge is a wraparound featuring a hitman and his driver. These two relay the story of the Gun Woman in a technique that, for the most part, feels wonky and unnecessary if it weren’t for the final punch line that it delivers.

Gun Woman won’t be for everyone. It’s incredibly offbeat, but stuffed full of enough violence and grue (and one hell of a lot of blood) to make it worthwhile for genre aficionados. The action sequences feel somewhat stifled by the budget, but there’s a real sense of Mitsutake’s passion within. He isn’t just making a thematically challenging film for the sake of notoriety.

As a throwback to a take-no-prisoners era of exploitation filmmaking, Gun Woman is a splashy success. If it sounds like it’s your sort of thing, chances are it most definitely is. If you’re unsure, or expecting John Woo or Ringo Lam levels of action spectacle then tread carefully – you won’t find that here. It can be harsh and unflinchingly hard going, but Gun Woman is ultimately a tale of redemption and trial by fire that knows exactly what it’s doing – even if realising it completely is just outside of the scope of its resources.

Monster Pictures’ UK Blu-ray release of Gun Woman is sharp and well presented, but disappointingly slight on the special features side. All we have are a few different trailers for the film and a slideshow of behind the scenes photographs. It would have been welcome to get to hear the actress at the centre of the whole affair discuss her approach to such a demandingly physical role at least.

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