Tokyo Gore Police (2008)

2nd Aug 09





Plot
Ruka is a super cop who's mission is to destroy homicidal mutant humans who possess the ability to transform any injury in to a weapon. Along the way she discovvers the truth about her fathers untimely death.

Review
Fresh on the heels of the all-singing all-dancing Machine Girl comes Tokyo gore Police, just to show that this new wave of hyper kinetic super gore movies isn't going to stop any time soon. Expect the same blood spraying madness from every chopped limb, and look out for even more general grotesqueness, this time with a little bit of saucy sickness thrown in for a bit of fun.

It's set in a very near future Tokyo where the police department has been outsourced, so you have these law unto themselves Tokyo Gore Police running the show. They dress like sci-fi samurai only in black, and are all over the TV in good citizen ads straight out of Robocop although this time accompannied by ads that also plug self-mutilation equipment. Yep, the near future of Tokyo is a rahter sick place indeed.

The plot centres around Ruka, who is the city's top Enginneer hunter in a time when more and more enginneers are becoming apparent. Enginneers, you see, are criminal mutants who, via a key shaped tuma (and bizarre body lock - don't ask, just watch it) now possess the ability to mutate or morph their gory wounds in to weapons. One guy gets his arm cut off and it mutates in to an organic chainsaw. Another gets the top of his head chopped off (top chop style) and his eyes mutate into machine guns. And a guy gets his penis bitten off by a lady who's half crocodile and he, well, I'll leave that one for you to witness for yourself.

Anywho, Ruka is the top samurai sword wielding Enginneer hunter and is the central character in the film. Her role in the police department is demonstrated quite cleanly at the beginning of the film in the first action set piece. An enginneer is identified, the cops move in and are generally decimated in a gory display of enginneer madness. Then the chiefs talk, word passes back to the parked cars at the perimeter of the police line, a car door opens and Ruka's graceful form emerges. The police fall back slowly, Ruka steps forward, draws her sword and we all concentrate very hard as the action is directed by Tak Sakaguchi of Versus fame, and so moves at breakneck pace. Before you know it Ruka's walking away through a veritable river of blood and we're left trying to rationalise the concept of fighting an opponent who, when injured, grows more weapons from the gore soaked, hitherto amputated limb.

Plotwise, Tokyo Gore Police is equally wild. Ruka, it seems, is actually the daughter of a former high ranking police man who was right hand man to the know chief. He was murdered in front of young Ruka (in a flashback that's repeated many times, albeit each time played in a more complete state) by what at first seems an unknown opponent, but as the film progresses more of the back story is revealed. Why did her father die? What's the connection between Ruka, her father and the newest Enginneer on the scene - the one with the newly formed machine gun eyes? And what's the crazy chief of police (yes, the one with the megaphone permanently attached to his helmet) hiding?

Eventually, all will be revealed. Tokyo Gore Police is loads of fun, completely gross and should satisfy anyone who's now expecting lashings of hyper gore from anything that comes out of Japan now that they've witnessed the delights of Machine Girl. One word of warning though, whereas Machine Girl is full on comedy action gore from the word go, Tokyo Gore Police does find time along the way to have moments of calm introspection. You know how even the most balletic mangas have those Blade Runner moments where characters walk slowly through the rain in a melancholy way thinking about their futures and whatever? Well, Tokyo Gore Police is guilty of that too, especially when Ruka's involved with those beautiful dark eyes you can easily get lost in, as I speculate the director did on more than one occassion.

Still, can't beat up a film for occassionally slowing down to walking pace, maybe it's for us, the viewers, to take stock and catch up with what's happening? That's not necessarily a bad thing. The film does at least wrap everything together nicely at the end, with a nicely open bit of sequel baiting thrown in. And with RoboGeisha and Vampire Girl Vs Frankenstein Girl on the horizon, you've got a lot to look forward to.

Posted by
Jim



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