Ruka(..scrawny and sullen Eihi Shiina)watched an assassin blow her father's head apart and bears this burden as an "engineer hunter"(..humans with hideous mutations genetically created)working for a "privatized police faction" known as the Tokyo Police Corporation who destroy criminals on the spot, wearing heavy armour and equipped with state-of-the-art machine guns under the control of a Police chief(Yukihide Benny)whose vocal cords are severed and speaks through a special magnified intercom system attacked to his uniform. Ruka is on the prowl for the mastermind behind the engineers, a madman who actually injected himself with the genes of notorious serial killers, his method for being able to create this race he claims derived from the devil after attempting to kill himself. The Mastermind wishes to join forces with Ruka, both have something in common, concerning her father's murder and how the assassin relates to him. Ultimately, The Mastermind will inflict Ruka with a genetic mutation(..inserting a hunk of flesh, in the form of a key, duplicated from a sample found in the Mastermind's body after awakening from a coma which derived from his attempted suicidal leap from a building, leaving his face scarred)that will turn her into the very thing she hunts, with complicated results. The Mastermind will also infiltrate the Tokyo Police Corporation, using one of their own men, after turning him into an engineer when he visited an underground freak show containing mutants. This sets off a chain events which will expose the corruption of an organization which was built, supposedly, to protect citizens, with Ruka forced into fighting against the very ones she's worked for her entire adult life.
Outrageous, cartoonish, over-the-top, extremely graphic action-horror hybrid featuring every possible violent act that can happen to the human body. Body parts are ripped away or chopped from victim's bodies and blood sprays all over the place. Faces are stabbed and mutilated, even removed from the head. Hideously grotesque body mutations are a constant(..clearly Cronenberg's Videodrome has had a profound impact on the filmmakers)such as a crocodile mouth forming from the arm or legs of humans effected by The Mastermind's mutations, chomping down on limbs and faces, jerking them from victims' bodies. Faces are often deformed with icky make-up effects. Ruka uses a Kitana sword and many a victim are split apart with blood squirting, whether it be someone's head parted down the center or bodies cut in half and hacked to pieces. This kind of film is not for the squeamish, that's for sure. The mutations are liable to get under the skin of those who have a hard time dealing with fleshly deformities and abnormalities. I think the film goes a little overboard with it's excess of gore..a woman is torn to shreds after the Tokyo police pull her apart using four separate vehicles, her hands and legs all pulled in individual directions. Multiple heads are severed and a kooky coroner has a missile launcher he uses to blast human arms(..they even give poor Ruka the finger!)! One poor soul gets his penis bitten off with a large mutation growing in it's place shooting flesh-bullets at the police! The film, as it continues, just gets more ridiculous, surreal and crazy..it's hard to ever take serious even when the story unfolds a grim fact involving Ruka's father, an advocate against a privatized police force, and her boss, the man who raised her. Features commercial bits representing a hostile future embracing the violent nature of a culture spiraling out of control and the dark humor on display will not appeal to everyone, some would find it unpleasant and sick. But, this film is a no-holds-barred, go-for-broke type of entertainment that is audacious and repulsive in equal measure. Spirited camera-work, colorful visual style, and energy to spare, Yoshihiro Nishimura aims to please gorehounds with a penchant for ultra-violence. The visual effects are, at times, so bizarre, revolting, and shocking(..while also, at times, looking rather unconvincing as if it was the director's intent to make the violence seem unrealistic and cheesy)that it elicits awe and surprise. Rarely does the director let you catch a breath, either, and there's hardly ever a moment where the film is civilized or humane. Enter at your own risk.
Outrageous, cartoonish, over-the-top, extremely graphic action-horror hybrid featuring every possible violent act that can happen to the human body. Body parts are ripped away or chopped from victim's bodies and blood sprays all over the place. Faces are stabbed and mutilated, even removed from the head. Hideously grotesque body mutations are a constant(..clearly Cronenberg's Videodrome has had a profound impact on the filmmakers)such as a crocodile mouth forming from the arm or legs of humans effected by The Mastermind's mutations, chomping down on limbs and faces, jerking them from victims' bodies. Faces are often deformed with icky make-up effects. Ruka uses a Kitana sword and many a victim are split apart with blood squirting, whether it be someone's head parted down the center or bodies cut in half and hacked to pieces. This kind of film is not for the squeamish, that's for sure. The mutations are liable to get under the skin of those who have a hard time dealing with fleshly deformities and abnormalities. I think the film goes a little overboard with it's excess of gore..a woman is torn to shreds after the Tokyo police pull her apart using four separate vehicles, her hands and legs all pulled in individual directions. Multiple heads are severed and a kooky coroner has a missile launcher he uses to blast human arms(..they even give poor Ruka the finger!)! One poor soul gets his penis bitten off with a large mutation growing in it's place shooting flesh-bullets at the police! The film, as it continues, just gets more ridiculous, surreal and crazy..it's hard to ever take serious even when the story unfolds a grim fact involving Ruka's father, an advocate against a privatized police force, and her boss, the man who raised her. Features commercial bits representing a hostile future embracing the violent nature of a culture spiraling out of control and the dark humor on display will not appeal to everyone, some would find it unpleasant and sick. But, this film is a no-holds-barred, go-for-broke type of entertainment that is audacious and repulsive in equal measure. Spirited camera-work, colorful visual style, and energy to spare, Yoshihiro Nishimura aims to please gorehounds with a penchant for ultra-violence. The visual effects are, at times, so bizarre, revolting, and shocking(..while also, at times, looking rather unconvincing as if it was the director's intent to make the violence seem unrealistic and cheesy)that it elicits awe and surprise. Rarely does the director let you catch a breath, either, and there's hardly ever a moment where the film is civilized or humane. Enter at your own risk.