Review of Tokyo Gore Police (2008) by Alex S — 19 Jan 2009

I love absurd imagery and over-the-top presentation but I can safely say this is a case of one step forward, two steps back. With a commanding announcement letting us know that this is from the same producers of "The Machine Girl" (an excellent movie in the same vein as this, save for it runs rings around it) and stars Eihi Shina (of "Audition" fame), it is justifiable to think this would be incredible.

It isn't. It's probably "good," but even then I may be giving too much credit. The plot about Tokyo's specialized police force waging war on bio-weapon "engineers" is a support beam to hang a plot twist anyone awake will see coming well in advance and a lot of laughably absurd effects.

See, when "engineers" are wounded, their injuries regroup into weaponry (unless a key-shaped tumor is removed from their bodies, and yeah, I think we can all agree this is stupid). This explains how a woman has knives for hands and feet, a dude has twin cannons coming out of his brain, one guy has a bazooka that launches human fists and oh, so much more.

Which brings us to the "Gore" in the title. This part the director got right as floods of it line the screen but believe me when I say you will not care. Between the lame plot and weak aestehtics, you will actually find yourself eagerly awaiting the next "commercial.

" Periodically, the film breaks into fictionalized (I hope...) satirical commercials for whatever reason. These are actually really clever and do not slow the already haphazard pace at all. But what does that say about a movie when its best parts are the fake commercials in it and it isn't "Tropic Thunder"?