Listonixio Fresh and Exciting

Doomtomylo a film so unique, intoxicating and bizarre that it not only demands another viewing, but is also forgivable as a satirical comedy where the jokes eventually take the back seat.

Senteur As somebody who had not heard any of this before, it became a curious phenomenon to sit and watch a film and slowly have the realities begin to click into place.

Derrick Gibbons An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

vandwedge The worst part about being a Rina Takeda fan is that you will never find a movie properly showcasing her abilities, because nobody ever made one (and, by now, probably never will).She's awesome. Very talented, and a great screen presence, which are the most important traits of an action star. But she just doesn't have any writers/directors/producers caring to capitalize on that. High Kick Girl was a nice if deeply flawed first effort. Fans were hoping Karate Girl would be the one to get it right, but it ended up being a huge step backward, as too were her subsequent films, but let's stay focused.What is wrong with KG? Problem #1: not enough Rina! We want to see Rina taking up as much of her film as Jackie Chan takes up of his films. This was a noticeable problem in High Kick and even worse in KG.Problem #2 is what KG fills the holes with: a lot of plot. Plot isn't inherently bad, but it is when it's so repetitive and boring. I don't know how many times I can listen to the bad guys have the same conversation. I don't know why they want me to try.Problem #3 is her co-star, the fourteen-year-old Tatsuya Naka. For a fourteen-year-old, she's extremely talented. She has some remarkable acrobatic moves. But the issue is she reads as having impressive agility, not impressive force, and the movie asks us to believe in her force. We watch her incapacitate a room full of large, muscular adults by lightly kicking each of them once, and it just doesn't work. She should be in the movie, just not in this way, and not for this much screen time. The film treats her with the same importance as the person used to market the film, both on the cover and in the title!A lot of martial arts films are enjoyable with fast forwarding (for example, High Kick Girl). KG is disappointing even then. It has a couple of good moments, and Rina does the best one could hope for with this material, but the final product simply isn't a good one, unfortunately.If I had reviewed this when I first saw it in 2011, I'd end with "I can't wait for her third film-maybe they'll get it right next time!" But since I'm writing this after my 2018 rewatch, we already know how that one turned out.

Donald Eric (fesgeppt) This actress can act and kick rear end. It is almost scary how good such a slender and little girl can be. She sure has the chops. The story itself is good and entertaining, but mostly cliche. The other actors around the main actress are weak. The Western persons especially are weak and cannot match the Japanese actors. I suppose the limited pool of available foreigners in Japan contributed to the issue. Otherwise, a great buy!

Stephanie Bilbo I enjoyed this film. It was full of action, entertaining and all this from two pretty damn hot chicks. Yeah. And unlike that girl from Star Wars (the new remake one) this girl is pretty and kicks butt... Enjoyed the action until the inevitable end.

suite92 When very young, Ayaka's karate instructor father was killed and her sister kidnapped.As an adult, Ayaka determines to find out what happened. She has her father's black belt, and the bad folks in the film want to take it in some ritualized way. Ayaka decides to fight back.Will Ayaka survive all the hostile attention? Will the two sisters reunite? Will the director get a better adviser about fight sequences? ------Scores-------Cinematography: 10/10 Excellent, beautiful, professional.Sound: 10/10 Excellent.Acting: 2/10 Rina Takeda was one of the centres of the film, and her performance was not believable: too light, too small, too thin, too unprepared, too little trained, too slow, too inaccurate. Takeda's opponents were too passive and often unmoving; they seldom press their advantage when a decisive blow was available. This sort of PC nonsense is completely the opposite of convincing. The fist, barely moving, of a 100 pound woman stops and repels the flying kick of a 180 pound man? Never has happened, never will happen--outside of a film where the director holds the viewer in utter contempt.Screenplay: 0/10 Should have been billed as fantasy. There is enough material for a 15 minute short; 91 minutes is way too long, especially when the filler consists of insultingly bogus fight sequences.