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'The Other Side of the Sea'. I don't know how they managed it but the writer and director of this film actually managed to make a story about a hitwoman bland and boring. It has the feel of the Hong Kong equivalent of a made for TV movie and owes more to the melodrama genre (not that I dislike melodramas) than to the slam bang in your face action genre for which HK films are noted for. Michelle Reis (sometimes called Michelle Lee) plays the hitwoman who flees to a remote island to escape the wrath of her former triad employers. She falls in love, the events leading up to her current situation are told in flashback and then the bad guys arrive for the not so grand finale. The story starts slowly and doesn't really come to life until the second half and even then it is still in need of some resuscitation techniques. Michelle Reis is OK as the reformed hitwoman but fails to inject any sense of urgency into the substandard storyline. Film Rating 3/10 and Hitwoman Rating 4/10.
'Full Disclosure'. Every so often you come across a pearl in a sea of mediocrity. When I apply that saying to this movie I am not talking about the contents of this film, though it is pretty entertaining, but the character Michelle played by Penelope Ann Miller. You'll have realised that I watch quite a range of movies and TV programs but I would be hard pressed to name a female character who ranks alongside Michelle in terms of ruthlessness with a pretty face. Take it from me Penelope Ann Miller plays one of the best hitwomen seen on the silver screen.
The story itself is a fairly standard espionage thriller but it told with a high degree of panache. Fred Ward plays a down at heel newspaper reporter who keeps a bottle of scotch in his desk to help dull his memories of his youthful past when he was involved in a fatal attack on a Vietnam war recruiting office. Anyway his past comes back to haunt him when one of his ex-compatriots ask him to hide a woman (Rachel Ticotin) for a few days. Pretty soon he is up to his ears in trouble as he discovers the woman is involved in an assasination plot and pretty soon the FBI and agents of a foreign regime (including Michelle) are on his case whilst all the time he is trying to write a story for his newspaper.
After some not too subtle detective work Michelle is soon hot on the trail of the woman secreted in the reporter's flat and whom she has orders to kill. This sets the scene for Michelle to use her particularly brutal interrogation techniques to find the whereabouts of the woman. Does the reporter survive his ordeal? Does he fall in love with the heroine and do they fly into the sunset? That would be telling, but the answer is yes. I think I'd have liked this film regardless of whether Michelle was part of the plot or not but given the fact she is and that Penelope Ann Miller gives a bravura performance it really is hard to dislike this film on any level (well, apart from the fact that Michelle should have had a bigger part). Film Rating rating 7/10 and Gun Moll rating 9/10.
'Phoenix the Warrior'. Ah, from the sublime to the ridiculous. Now let me put my cards on the table. I like this film despite the fact it is a bad film. I like the fact that it is corny, poorly acted and doesn't have much of a budget. I like the fact that it was made in a time when 'straight to video' meant that you could get a group of wannabe actors and actresses together, set up a film set in the back of beyond, pretend to be a Mad Max clone and get away with it. I like the fact that you could have a group of scantily clad actresses taking pot shots at each other and that you could spot the good gal from the bad gal by whether she was chewing gum or not. Yep, it's a cliche ridden plot about a matriarchal society hunting down a male breeder amidst a post apocalyptic tribal backdrop but in spite of everything it is fun and what more can you ask for your money? The lead players are Kathleen Kinmont, Veronica Carothers, Persis Khambatta and James Emery as the hunted male. Persis Khambatta was an Indian model turned actress who starred in 'Star Trek - The Motion Picture' before fading into lesser and lesser roles like this. She died a few years ago at a relatively young age from a heart attack. If you like good cheeseball movies then this is one for you. Film Rating 5/10 (I'd like to give it more but in all honesty I can't) and Gun Babe rating 6/10. (Sorry 'bout the quality of some of these vidcaps).
