Search - Body Count on DVD

Awful, or as Sonny Chiba would say, "Eewahguu."

TrezKu13 | Norfolk, VA | 07/04/2005

(1 out of 5 stars)

"This film features a cavalcade of direct-to-video stars...most of whom get killed.



The plot consists of Sonny Chiba, playing Japanese hitman Makato, killing off two Italian child pornographers and then getting arrest by the special police team. Turns out someone on that team paid him to kill the two criminals, and escaping from prison (rather too easily for a supposedly famous international criminal) he seeks revenge. Armed with a gun, a sword, and his inability to pronounce any word in the English dictionary, Sonny Chiba is one ticked off hitman.



The problem is that you really don't care about too many of the policemen he kills. Except for the two main characters, most of the others have no real redeeming values. One guy abuses his contact, points a gun at her, and then you're supposed to feel bad that he's killed off.



The other problem is the police characters are completely incompetant. They know that Makato is after them, but make no effort to protect each other or themselves. Part of this may be that the police department has only ten people in it - and I gather this from a few things. One, when a characters goes in to bust a criminal he goes in alone. (what? You don't wanna call for back-up or anything?) Then when he's killed by Makato and two more police go in to investigate, they go alone too. And, as I said already, there's no 24 hour guard to protect the members of the team, no FBI involvement, no witness protection, nothing. The only time you see other policeman is in the middle, and they are dressed as mall security guards so they were probably borrowed rent-a-cops. There's also no city-wide effort to hunt down Makato. Are the police just lazy, or do they WANT to die?



Bad. Bad acting. Bad writing, too. I loved the scene where the characters attend a funeral of one of their friends, and the female officer says, "I wonder which of you guys is next." WHAT THE HELL?! Great timing, idiot! Bad filmmaking too. Music is composed of three instruments: a saxophone, a piano, (which made me feel like Buster Keaton was gonna pop out of no where) and someone banging against a door. I loved the scene where Sonny Chiba is trying to get away from the hero, so he picks the fastest vehicle available: a trolley. Did I mention bad writing?



Oh yeah, don't get too excited about Brigitte Nielson on the front cover. She's in probably eight minutes of film time. There's no real point to her character at all."