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Overall Rating : 8/10
Directed By : Noboru Iguchi, Yoshihiro Nishimura, Tak Sakaguchi
Yumi Sugimoto
Maiko Ito
Kanji Tsuda (Audition)
Naoto Takenaka
Supplied By : Well Go USA Entertainment
Film Reviewed By : Rick L. Blalock
Date Reviewed : May. 31, 2012
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| PLOT Rin has always felt like an outcast among her classmates and peers, and as she's about to turn sixteen, she finds out why - while her mother is human, her dad is a Hiruko, a race of mutant creatures whose bodies transform themselves in strange ways and can sprout weapons at will. Defense Minister Koshimizu has launched a crusade to eliminate the Hirukos in the name of public safety, but Rin's father tells her of an underground Hiruko alliance who are fighting for their right to survive, and after the death of her parents, Rin makes her way to a training camp for young Hirukos. Rin, who now has long blades where her fingers used to be, teams up with fellow teenage warriors Rei, Yoshie, Sachie, and Chiako, all of whom have unique bodily weapons of their own, as they set out to take down Koshimizu. |
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| THE REVIEW Rin is a young schoolgirl who is just about to turn 16. An outcast at school, she has always felt alienated from her peers. But upon her birthday, Rin learns something from her parents that would forever make her even more different. The secret is that her Mother is human, while her dad is part of a mutant race known as "Hiruko". When her parents are unexpectedly killed during her birthday celebration, Rin becomes acquainted with just how different she is. Armed with a razor-sharp hand, Rin single-handedly slays the armed forces that took out her parents. Soon Rin is on the run, and when the public becomes aware of her birthday "gift", they are threatened. Rin essentially becomes a target, which leaves her no choice but to leave behind her, a trail of bodies. After the said slaughter, however, Rin is abducted by the leader of "HILKO". Rin soon learns that HILKO is a clan of like "Hirukos", who have banded together to fight, and his army, who has constructed a weapon with the hopes of riding the "" race, as a means for safety. It takes her awhile, but eventually, Rin begins to feel at home among HILKO, and even supports their quest for equality for both races. However, when it becomes clear to Rin that HILKO's leader, is also killing humans, who have nothing to do with the fight, just for fun in the name of sacrifice, Rin soon leads a rebellion against the selective evil agenda of her own clan. With the latest release from Japan's SUSHI TYPHOON, Directors, Noboru Iguchi, Yoshihiro Nishimura, and Tak Sakaguchi, have obviously used Marvel's X-MEN as a point of inspiration for their MUTANT GIRLS SQUAD. Not only does the film feature a team of girls born with powers, (or "treasures" as they are called here), as a team of ass-kicking femme fatales, the directors have also added in a few key ingredients that pertain to Asian cinema. Here, there is pretty much everything, and even a few things that you didn't expect to see. In other words the film is packed to the brim with special effects, weirdness, slapstick comedy and gore effects. Going into this film, I really had no clue as to what to expect to be honest. All I assumed it was, was a superhero movie of sorts, because of course, that's what the synopsis hints at. But I was not expecting what else this film has to offer> The film's off the wall humor and imagery comes from out of nowhere, literally. One minute, the film's pretty much straight forward, the next minute, well...we have Rin's father showing Rin his breasticles(he even has one for a penis!), and Rin's mom getting her head blown off by a gunshot. The craziness of this film initially catches you off guard and you're not quite sure how to process what you're seeing, however, when your mind adjusts to the fact that this is just how MUTANT GIRLS SQUAD is, the festivities become quite awesome. MUTANT GIRLS SQUAD is one messed up, highly entertaining movie. Honestly, it wasn't long before I was loving every minute of this one. The special effects gore in this film is just absolutely ridiculous in a good way - gorehounds will eat the effects up with a spoon. We have in this film, heads and various limbs flying about left and right, and blood is literally in showers! Both the gore and the funny are on point in this film. One of the things that is most funny about MUTANT GIRLS SQUAD, is the fact that each of the girls have wildly outrages powers. Our lead character Rin has a hand with blade-like fingers(ala Freddy Krueger" in WES CRAVEN'S NEW NIGHTMARE), while others have machete breasts, a man-eating chest and belly), an anteater like trunk/reptilian arms, and my personal favorite, a chainsaw that retracts from their ass(she even wears shirts that say "I [heart] Texas", which is obviously a nod to the Tobe Hooper classic, THE TEXAS CHAIN SAW MASSACRE. It's beautiful). The powers had me laughing to no end - they're obviously for fun's sake, but the filmmakers, in addition to making them funny, also find ways to make these silly ideas, effective. I'm still amazed by the kills that the creative minds of the Directors were able to conjure up, as most of them are grisly and twisted to the full extent. As for the technical specs. The film looks slick and high end. THe colors are vibrant and eye-catching, especially when it comes to the display of blood, which is a bold red hue. As for being on Blu-Ray, things look great. I'm guessing that the Blu-Ray will be a small step up from the DVD releases, however, the Blu-Ray presentation isn't perfect by no means. In the Blu-Ray picture, there is sometimes noticeable fuzz, especially in the dark outside shots. But overall, it's not a big deal. To close, MUTANT GIRLS SQUAD, is a crazy film. one that will have you both laughing at it's silly comedy, and cheering for it's amazing gore effects. This film is B-Movie all the way, which isn't always a bad thing, in fact, this time, it's a very good thing. |
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| GORE
METER 9/10 Decapitations, severed limbs, exploding heads, shredded people, popped-out eyeballs, ripped flesh, lactating killer breasts. there is so much that goes on in MUTANT GIRLS SQUAD, that it is just psychically impossible to name it all! |
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MUSICAL
SCORE 5/10 A Mix of Action/Adventure and suspense, with a little bit of up-tempo music. | ||||
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| OVERALL
IMPRESSION OF THE FILM Holy shit, this movie is insane! Going into MUTANT GIRLS SQUAD, I didn't know what to expect, and honestly, I figured it would be a forgettable, "superhero wannabe" film. Granted, it is a film that draws inspiration from various films, the film is very original. The end result is blast 5to watch, it's funny, it's gory, and it's highly memorable, with tons of reply value. I skipped out on SUSHI TYPHOON's last effort, YAKUZA WEAPON assuming that I wouldn't like it. But after seeing MUTANT GIRLS SQUAD, you can rest assured that, that will not ever happen again. Highly recommended! Special Features include : - Two behind-the-scenes featurettes: * Opening Day * The Making of Mutant Girls Squad - Interviews with filmmakers - Short film: "Yoshi Zero" |
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