After the stunning 'Sex & Fury', Rieko Ike reprises her role of Ocho in 'Female Yakuza Tale', but this outing is markedly inferior as director Teruo Ishii simply does not exhibit any of the visual style which Norifumi Suzuki displayed in the original.
Despite it's rather unpleasant storyline about female drug mules at times seems like a slapstick comedy and fails to engage the viewer. The film also suffers from an overly large cast - characters are introduced who do virtually nothing & screen time is eaten up by a meandering plot, unfunny slapstick and rather unerotic nudity. Most annoyingly Rieko Ike is simply not on screen for long enough.
The film does have it's moments, with the most stunning sequence being the opening fight where a parasol spinning Ocho butchers a gang of men while losing her clothing. Infuriatingly the opening credits are plastered over this scene which was obviously cut short before it's conclusion. One wonders if this was an out-take from 'Sex & Fury' as it is so different in style from everything else in the movie. None of the other fights come close to this one and the climactic battle between the male villains and an army of naked women is disappointing, totally lacking the outstanding choreography and slo-mo intensity which made Ike's naked fight in 'Sex & Fury' so outstanding.
'Female Yakuza Tale' is worth watching if you are a fan of Japanese exploitation despite it not being anywhere near as good as it's predecessor - maybe if you plan to watch them, you should see this first.
Despite it's rather unpleasant storyline about female drug mules at times seems like a slapstick comedy and fails to engage the viewer. The film also suffers from an overly large cast - characters are introduced who do virtually nothing & screen time is eaten up by a meandering plot, unfunny slapstick and rather unerotic nudity. Most annoyingly Rieko Ike is simply not on screen for long enough.
The film does have it's moments, with the most stunning sequence being the opening fight where a parasol spinning Ocho butchers a gang of men while losing her clothing. Infuriatingly the opening credits are plastered over this scene which was obviously cut short before it's conclusion. One wonders if this was an out-take from 'Sex & Fury' as it is so different in style from everything else in the movie. None of the other fights come close to this one and the climactic battle between the male villains and an army of naked women is disappointing, totally lacking the outstanding choreography and slo-mo intensity which made Ike's naked fight in 'Sex & Fury' so outstanding.
'Female Yakuza Tale' is worth watching if you are a fan of Japanese exploitation despite it not being anywhere near as good as it's predecessor - maybe if you plan to watch them, you should see this first.