I was quite kind to the first Yakuza Hunters movie but it was a lot of fun and I could not fault the bevy of beauties in it or the throwback style to 70s Pinky Violence movies. I ended off the review saying I was looking forward to part 2 and rather shot myself in the foot. It arrived, I watched it and have prevaricated over reviewing it for too long before finally sitting down to watch it again and getting my thoughts together. For a start director Kazushi Nakadaira seems to just be executive producer on this, handing over the reins to first time film maker Shin’ichi Okuda. So I am wondering why from the off.

The film starts off promisingly with some evil Yakuza menacing two victims in a warehouse. By menacing I mean revving up a chainsaw and with one of them cutting off his left hand and right foot, ah the symmetry of violence! As far as Reika, the lady of the pair is concerned, we are told she has been used in every way possible and an over the top yell comes from the main Yakuza telling his colleague to “Slice through her crotch” cueing a scene that could have made the annals or even anals of depraved Japanese genre cinema. It immediately strikes that this is all done for laughs with fantastical rather than explicit gore though, so don’t get your hopes up too much.

After the wild start and James Bond flavoured credits we discover Asami is back after three years absence. In that time a new Yakuza gang are in town clearing its inhabitants away to build a new casino. She hooks up with an old friend and bar proprietor, his young assistant who immediately falls for Asami and his sister who is slightly cuckoo, an ex Yakuza hunter and landlady giving Asami a roof over her head. The two of them spend their day in an arcade playing Pachinko, a game that no doubt will confound anyone living in the Western world. Soon enough the pair of them bump into the local Yakuza and a daft fight ensues. The big problem that is quickly established is that here we have Asami and a sidekick who is far past her prime, in other words where is the buxom bevy of beauties who made the first film such fun, where is the t & a? It’s a sexist but wholly relevant question and the only answer is, cheated!

After some Yakuza ass kickery they decide to bring contract killer Ms Akira back and it is obvious that all things will be gearing up to a final showdown between her and Asami. Put simply the film seems cheap in almost every respect, the first was hardly a blockbuster but this is it stripped down. Thankfully this means a bit less CGI but it does also mean more painful soundtrack music. There is some liberal filching (not felching) of bits and pieces from Prisoner Scorpion, Lady Snowblood and a splash of Sergio Leone, which enthusiasts of such films will either love or totally cringe at. On the whole though this is a bit of chore to sit through even at just over an hour of length.

I’m not going to say I cannot wait for the next instalment as looking at the IMDB they may have wised up (or Asami who looks tired throughout this may have) and decided to lay the series to rest. One lesson that was learned from watching this though is that it is never advisable to go out and leave your baby at home. I admit its crying was getting on my nerves to but totally harsh response, the Yakuza are truly evil bastards in these movies.

http://www.cinedumonde.co.uk/yakuza-hunters-2

Pete Woods