I love Cuty Suzuki. In my list of 80s-90s joshi wrestlers, among whom the best are on a par with the Gary Albrights, Vaders, Terry Funks, and Akira Taues of the wrestling world, she's admittedly somewhere in the middle, but if you know me, you know I prioritize women's wrestling over everything else. I've always thought Suzuki was a special talent, an incredible babyface, albeit one who I never thought really reached her full potential in the ring (if she had, we'd be seeing more gifs of Cuty Suzuki than Manami Toyota every week). This film also features several other wrestlers, including Devil Masami and Shinobu Kandori, both of whom should be near the top of anyone's list.
So, obviously, I've wanted to watch her movies for a long time, but for a bunch of reasons I hadn't really taken the plunge yet. What better film to start with than this, a film from the director of the excellent Guzoo, as well as Entrails of a Virgin and the first entry in the XX series? And, of course, right off the bat my decision is heavily vindicated. This movie has real style, with its gloomy lighting, grim and foggy environs, as well as a number of choice shots and the prominence of technology both real and fictive.
On top of the lighting, the film often has a strong use of color as well, with one fascinating shot showing several buildings lit up blue under the strange fog that's settled on Tokyo (the blue coloration partly seems to be a result of the camera which recorded the footage). It's such a strong composition that I had to rewind to it several times, before finally pausing and just settling on it for a bit. The sky is covered in darkness, but the light somehow permeates through as a thick band of ghostly blue which shines through many of the windows in the buildings, giving Tokyo a credibly apocalyptic feeling right off the bat. This (found) footage is, of course, part of a recording made by some journalists. The clip also feels slightly surreal in character, as the cameraman zooms out from the closeup of the reporter, causing that reporter's image to almost fade into the blue background before the cameraman himself is caught by zombies.
There are a lot of cool notes, like how right before eliminating the refugees who have been experimented on, Keiko sees them all as people rather than as zombies. Or how the green-haired punk girl smiles at her before shooting at her to knock her off their bus, and they end up bonding almost entirely based on mutually being cool as fuck. Or the small bit of military fetishism as Keiko puts the battle suit on, then lovingly runs a hand down her lower leg, feeling across the material for a fairly lengthy shot. Or how at the end, after she hugs her father, he reestablishes the boundaries of military etiquette as he wishes her luck.
Suzuki still rules, but she's definitely better as a wrestler than as an actress. I do think she should be more famous.
The action is, of course, somewhere between wrestling and regular action choreography. Somehow, these sorts of movies always feature wrestling which is significantly slower and weaker than the wrestling these ladies really did.
In my opinion, only a few things would have to change to make this movie five stars, but the things holding it back are pretty significant. If this movie was full of crazy slimy body horror it would be an easy five stars.
"Next time when we meet again, there's still no guarantee that the antidote will be ready." "I promise I won't die until the mission is accomplished." in english: "Good luck, Battle Girl."
I love Cuty Suzuki. In my list of 80s-90s joshi wrestlers, among whom the best are on a par with the Gary Albrights, Vaders, Terry Funks, and Akira Taues of the wrestling world, she's admittedly somewhere in the middle, but if you know me, you know I prioritize women's wrestling over everything else. I've always thought Suzuki was a special talent, an incredible babyface, albeit one who I never thought really reached her full potential in the ring (if she had, we'd be seeing more gifs of Cuty Suzuki than Manami Toyota every week). This film also features several other wrestlers, including Devil Masami and Shinobu Kandori, both of whom should be near the top of anyone's list.
So, obviously, I've wanted to watch her movies for a long time, but for a bunch of reasons I hadn't really taken the plunge yet. What better film to start with than this, a film from the director of the excellent Guzoo, as well as Entrails of a Virgin and the first entry in the XX series? And, of course, right off the bat my decision is heavily vindicated. This movie has real style, with its gloomy lighting, grim and foggy environs, as well as a number of choice shots and the prominence of technology both real and fictive.
On top of the lighting, the film often has a strong use of color as well, with one fascinating shot showing several buildings lit up blue under the strange fog that's settled on Tokyo (the blue coloration partly seems to be a result of the camera which recorded the footage). It's such a strong composition that I had to rewind to it several times, before finally pausing and just settling on it for a bit. The sky is covered in darkness, but the light somehow permeates through as a thick band of ghostly blue which shines through many of the windows in the buildings, giving Tokyo a credibly apocalyptic feeling right off the bat. This (found) footage is, of course, part of a recording made by some journalists. The clip also feels slightly surreal in character, as the cameraman zooms out from the closeup of the reporter, causing that reporter's image to almost fade into the blue background before the cameraman himself is caught by zombies.
There are a lot of cool notes, like how right before eliminating the refugees who have been experimented on, Keiko sees them all as people rather than as zombies. Or how the green-haired punk girl smiles at her before shooting at her to knock her off their bus, and they end up bonding almost entirely based on mutually being cool as fuck. Or the small bit of military fetishism as Keiko puts the battle suit on, then lovingly runs a hand down her lower leg, feeling across the material for a fairly lengthy shot. Or how at the end, after she hugs her father, he reestablishes the boundaries of military etiquette as he wishes her luck.
Suzuki still rules, but she's definitely better as a wrestler than as an actress. I do think she should be more famous.
The action is, of course, somewhere between wrestling and regular action choreography. Somehow, these sorts of movies always feature wrestling which is significantly slower and weaker than the wrestling these ladies really did.
In my opinion, only a few things would have to change to make this movie five stars, but the things holding it back are pretty significant. If this movie was full of crazy slimy body horror it would be an easy five stars.
"Next time when we meet again, there's still no guarantee that the antidote will be ready." "I promise I won't die until the mission is accomplished." in english: "Good luck, Battle Girl."
