Zero woman: Kesenai kioku (1997) (V)

Director:

Norihisa Yoshimura

Writers:

Takafumi Ota (screenplay)
Tooru Shinohara (manga O-ka no onna)

Genre:

Drama | Thriller | Crime

Plot Keywords:

Based On Comic | Female Killer | Violence | Female Assassin

Cast

Mikiyo Ono	...	Rei (aka Zero Woman)
Reina Tanaka	...	Naomi
Kou Watanabe	...	Shiina
Yoshiaki Fujiwara	...	Yamamoto
Daisuke Ryu	...	Mutoh
Kazuki Nagasawa	...	Gohara

Also Known As:

Zero Woman: The Hunted (USA) (DVD title)

MPAA:

Rated R for sexuality, violence and language.

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

Singapore:R21

Better than the previous one, at least

After successfully pulling off a daring hit on a man surrounded by bodyguards, Rei (Mikiyo Ohno) becomes the target of a (rather clumsy, I would say) assassin. While dealing with him, she also meets a female masseuse, with whom she seems to be linked by a traumatic incident in the past, and a genial male waiter who is flirting with her.

A definite step up from the dismal previous entry ("The Accused"), "Zero Woman 5: The Hunted", has, in my opinion, the most convincing as an assassin actress to play Rei so far. Mikiyo Ohno (who, by the way, looks much more beautiful in the film than she does on the DVD cover) has the right cold, blank stare when she's executing someone, and I liked how she showed Rei's comfort and knowledgeability about different types of guns. However, the action scenes aren't particularly well-done, the pacing is once again narcotizing at times, and the script has a few minor new ideas (the real identity of the masseuse) but no major new ones: it all comes down, once again, to Rei wanting to leave the Zero Division but finding it difficult to do so. Even the last scene is pretty much the exact same it was in "Zero Woman" Parts 1 & 3. (**)