After I watched Noribumi Suzuki's visually captivating, violence-packed and sex-charged revenge exploitation film - Sex And Fury (1973) – my expectations towards its' sequel "Female Yakuza Tale" were naturally high. Unfortunately, it proves to be a considerably weaker effort compared to its' predecessor.
The mesmerizing Reiko Ike is back as Ocho – the beautiful and skilled sword-waving gambler, who, after having avenged her father's death in the first movie, is now facing a new threat – a drug trafficking ring, which has a rather unconventional way of smuggling drugs (using women's private parts as a hiding place for the drugs!). Reiko's character seems quite indestructible in this sequel which becomes evident in the fight scenes, not getting even a single bruisе (there is however a scene where she is being tortured, but only after being tricked and drugged by her enemies). The opening sequence with Reiko fighting in the open under pouring rain against countless villains after having lost all her clothes is a treat to the eyes – beautifully shot and lit and with stunning choreography and sword-play – here the director of the sequel Teruo Ishii is staying close to Suzuki's original vision and this opening scene is like an echo of the unforgettable action episode in "Sex And Fury" where Reiko is forced to defend herself again totally in the nude, after being attacked while taking a bath. But further on, Ishii kind of abandons this style in favor of showing more nudity and sleaze, and presents a story with some ridiculous subplots and quite a few faceless and weak new characters, opposed to the first movie's more simplified and one-dimensional storyline (yes, it too had some subplots involved, like the girl-spy's love story, but I think they weren't distracting at all) and its' memorable rich characters (just compare the villains from the 2 parts to see what I mean). It's like Ishii wanted to push the limits of sex and violence even more, but in the final battle scene the effect is rather exaggerated and comic – grenades are flying, guns are blazing, swords are drawn, faces are ripped apart, there is even an episode where a girl is urinating on a corpse of a man, after the groin of said corpse has been crushed by another girl (we don't see it that clearly, but do we really need to ?) so, the violently chaotic ending proves to be hilariously anti-climactic, not to mention the main villain is killed off by Reiko so easily, fast and effortless, that it makes the whole concept of having this character in the movie pointless.
That being said, the film still has its' moments, like other reviewers already mentioned, and can be amusing to watch for its sheer amount of sleaze, some quite funny and memorable lines and laugh-out-loud episodes (the scene with the guards in the mental hospital, anyone?) And once again - the captivating opening fight-scene and Reiko Ike are enough reasons to disregard the obvious shortcomings of "Female Yakuza Tale" and enjoy it fully as it is – a silly light-minded and cheap exploitative action thriller with buckets of blood and tons of nudity. That's how we like it after all, isn't it ?
The mesmerizing Reiko Ike is back as Ocho – the beautiful and skilled sword-waving gambler, who, after having avenged her father's death in the first movie, is now facing a new threat – a drug trafficking ring, which has a rather unconventional way of smuggling drugs (using women's private parts as a hiding place for the drugs!). Reiko's character seems quite indestructible in this sequel which becomes evident in the fight scenes, not getting even a single bruisе (there is however a scene where she is being tortured, but only after being tricked and drugged by her enemies). The opening sequence with Reiko fighting in the open under pouring rain against countless villains after having lost all her clothes is a treat to the eyes – beautifully shot and lit and with stunning choreography and sword-play – here the director of the sequel Teruo Ishii is staying close to Suzuki's original vision and this opening scene is like an echo of the unforgettable action episode in "Sex And Fury" where Reiko is forced to defend herself again totally in the nude, after being attacked while taking a bath. But further on, Ishii kind of abandons this style in favor of showing more nudity and sleaze, and presents a story with some ridiculous subplots and quite a few faceless and weak new characters, opposed to the first movie's more simplified and one-dimensional storyline (yes, it too had some subplots involved, like the girl-spy's love story, but I think they weren't distracting at all) and its' memorable rich characters (just compare the villains from the 2 parts to see what I mean). It's like Ishii wanted to push the limits of sex and violence even more, but in the final battle scene the effect is rather exaggerated and comic – grenades are flying, guns are blazing, swords are drawn, faces are ripped apart, there is even an episode where a girl is urinating on a corpse of a man, after the groin of said corpse has been crushed by another girl (we don't see it that clearly, but do we really need to ?) so, the violently chaotic ending proves to be hilariously anti-climactic, not to mention the main villain is killed off by Reiko so easily, fast and effortless, that it makes the whole concept of having this character in the movie pointless.
That being said, the film still has its' moments, like other reviewers already mentioned, and can be amusing to watch for its sheer amount of sleaze, some quite funny and memorable lines and laugh-out-loud episodes (the scene with the guards in the mental hospital, anyone?) And once again - the captivating opening fight-scene and Reiko Ike are enough reasons to disregard the obvious shortcomings of "Female Yakuza Tale" and enjoy it fully as it is – a silly light-minded and cheap exploitative action thriller with buckets of blood and tons of nudity. That's how we like it after all, isn't it ?