Robotrix (1991)

Robotrix (1991)
Chinese Title: 女機械人
Translation: Female Robot

Starring: Chikako Aoyama, Amy Yip, David Wu, Hui Hiu-Daan, Billy Chow, Kwai Chung, Wu Fung
Director: Jamie Luk
Action Director: Yuen Tak

Robotrix is one of the more memorable Category III films to come out of Hong Kong during the 1990s, mainly due to its loopy Sci-Fi premise. It is an exploitation film through and through, though it would be hard whether to call it a “Girls and Guns film with a sci-fi twist and an extra helping of T&A”, or a “Sexploitation film with a handful of fight scenes in it.” I tend toward the latter and it stands up there with Lethal Panther in terms of female-centric action movies that are interchangeable with softcore porn.

The movie begins with the Hong Kong police playing bodyguard to a Saudi prince whose sheik father is in town to attend a convention on robotics. Among the cops are Selina (Chikako Aoyama, of the Oedo Rapeman movies), who is visibly upset with having to keep watch over a man cavorting about in a swimming pool with four naked beauties. Shortly after she excuses herself—she is not about to watch her charge engage in a fivesome—the pool room fills with sleeping case. A mysterious man (Billy Chow, of Fist of Legend and Blonde Fury) kidnaps the prince and puts a large hole in Selina’s chest (what gun was he carrying? An AMT Hardballer?). Selina is rushed to the hospital with no prospects of leaving, except via the morgue.

Meanwhile, at the robot conference, we get to see the German and American models (played by Once Upon a Time in China’s Mark King and City Cop’s Ken Goodman, respectively) duke it out in a kung fu battle. They are defeated by another robot, built by Japanese scientist Dr. Sara (Hui Hiu-Daan) and her assistant, Anna (Amy Yip, of Requital and The Inspector Wears Skirts II). While showing off the robot to the interested sheik, the Hong Kong police commissioner (Wu Fung, of Big Brother and Skinny Tiger and Fatty Dragon) shows up to inform the sheik of his son’s kidnapping. Dr. Sara offers to let her robot perform the investigation and the commissioner allows her to transfer the now-deceased Selina’s memories and appearance to the fighting robot we saw.

We also learn the reason for the kidnapping. There is an evil Japanese scientist named Ryuichi Yamamoto who had tried secure funding for a robot army from the sheik. The sheik decided against it, so Yamamoto killed himself and had his consciousness transferred to a robot of his making—the guy we saw perform the kidnapping. Now, the sheik must agree to fund Yamamoto’s robot legion, or else his son gets it. I like the subtitle in this scene: “a mad robot is trying to undermine social security.”

Dr. Sara manages to create the robot clone of Selina, who initially has a hard time coming to grips with her new reality. Nonetheless, only the commissioner knows the truth; the rest of the cops, including Selina’s boyfriend (or suitor), Chou (David Wu, of In the Lineof Duty V and Tiger Cage II). They rekindle their romance while Anna goes undercover as a prostitute to flush out Yamamoto, who has been out screwing harlots to death—quite literally. It won’t be long before they find Yamamoto and he is going to wonder why the police officer whom he murdered is still out and about as if nothing happened…

Much like Inframan, you do not go into a film like Robotrix hoping to find anything resembling pseudo-science. The science fiction elements are there in set dressing, but no attempt is made to explain, even in gobblety-gook language, how memories are transferred, how synthetic skin is made, or how anything else works. This is a movie where “80s lightning” effects are run across the body of a dead woman and suddenly a robot body looks like her—very Metropolis level of technology here. It is fascinating to see female robots with sexual capabilities (to the point a man can go down on one and be none the wiser), AI brains (in the case of Anna), and a full range of movement (including martial arts), while 35 years later, we have silicone sex dolls with AI voice and interactive capabilities, but little actual movement—depending on who you talk to, we’re 5 years away from actual sex bots with realistic “movements”.

With that in mind, Robotrix is very much an excuse to film a bunch of sex (and rape) scenes, punctuated by the occasional fight sequence. I counted no fewer than seven pairs of breasts in this film, with four being displayed in the first five minutes. There are two consensual sex scenes and two rape scenes—the first rape starts consensual and then goes on after the woman decides she cannot keep up with Billy Chow’s stamina. Billy Chow’s rear end gets a lot of screentime, which is not something I ever thought I’d say about a movie and we even get a glimpse of his junk, too. All the sex scenes are both very explicit and lengthy, so smut fans will get their fill, just as much as Chikako Aoyama and Amy Yip do in their respective love scenes (there is no nudity from Amy, who does her famous “Yip Tease” when lying down with Stuart Ong).

The fight scenes were staged by Yuen Tak, who at the time was working on films like The Dragon from Russia; Prince of the Sun; and Saviour of the Soul. The fighting is typical modern-day kickboxing of a late 1980s or early 1990s movie. There are a few wire-assisted flourishes here, but not many. The choreography is pretty much what you would see from other non-fighter girls making movies at the time, think any movie with Sibelle Hu, or Carrie Ng and Cheung Man in films like Cheetah on Fire or Crystal Hunt. Only the finale really disappoints, as it starts as a fight scene and then becomes a stunt sequence involving a giant magnet and a trash compactor. I think sleaze hounds will get more out of this than fight fiends, although Billy Chow fans will certain enjoy him getting a lot of the spotlight.

Close Escape (1989)

Close Escape (1989)
Chinese Title: 飛越危牆
Translation: Leaping Over Dangerous Walls

Starring: Aaron Kwok, Max Mok, Michael Miu Kiu-Wai, Charine Chan Ka-Ling, Dick Wei, Yukari Oshima, Chan Chik-Wai, Albert Cheung Miu-Hau, Pomson Shi
Director: Chow Jan-Wing
Action Director: Phillip Kwok

Although nominally considered a Girls n’ Guns film because of the presence of Yukari Oshima in the cast, this is actually a more male-centric crime thriller with Oshima showing up in a supporting role. She delivers the film’s second best fighting performance, with top honors going to Dick Wei, whose speed and power were legendary during the heyday of his career.

Max Mox plays Lam Wai-Leung, a fencing student who has dreams of going abroad to study. Unfortunately, he is not all that well off in terms of money and his brother, a widower named Wai-Tung (Michael Miu, of Fatal Termination and The Fortune Code) isn’t much better. Wai-Tung lost a lot of money on the Stock Market in recent years and these days only has his apartment and a second property, a bungalow that he shared with his deceased wife (and his one major memory of her). The two men talk of selling it to finance Wai-Leung’s trip, but Wai-Tung has other ideas.

Another person who was hit by bad Stock Market decisions is a suave businessman named Chiu Ying-Kau (Dick Wei, of Project A and Yes, Madam!). Chiu, however, is the unscrupulous sort whose shift into crime was almost a given after legitimate investing went south. His current racket is diamonds, which involves buying diamonds and selling them to wealthier collectors for a small profit. Although, like many criminals in these movies, he is always looking for a way to get out of paying, which is where Wai-Tung comes in. Wai-Tung rigs the hotel’s AV system to fill the seller/buyers’ room with smoke and then breaks in and steals the diamonds.

Unfortunately, the criminal who betrays his vendor’s trust will ultimately betray the hired help he needed to swindle the former in the first place. When Leung Wai-Tung meets up with Chiu Ying-Kau the next night to hand over the diamonds, Chiu has him ambushed and killed on his way home. The murder is witnessed by both his brother and his brother’s best friend, Sgt. Ben Kwok (Aaron Kwok, of Divergence and The Storm Riders) of the Hong Kong Royal Police. Ben identifies one of the killers, Big Head Man (Albert Cheung), whom Ben’s colleague Uncle Kwut (Chan Chik-Wai, of Dragon Strikes and Return to Action) identifies as being one of Chiu’s men.

Much to Chiu Ying-Kau’s dismay, the diamonds that Lam Wai-Tung gave him were fake, a sort of guarantee on for his life (or a life insurance policy for his brother). Chiu sends his men to trash the Lam residence (and murder their dog) in search of the diamonds. When that doesn’t work, they kidnap Wai-Leung and try to torture the information out of him. When that also doesn’t produce results, Chiu murders Big Head Man—the police were already snooping around about him—and frames Lam Wai-Leung for it. He flees and is hit by a car driven by a Japanese reporter, Miko (Yukari Oshima, of A Book of Heroes and Ultracop 2000). Wai-Leung takes her hostage (he still has the gun that Chiu left in his hands) and forces her to go to his bungalow while he recovers and hides from the police. And maybe, just maybe, that may be where Chiu left the diamonds…

Although Close Escape’s plot is perfectly serviceable for a low-budget 80s/early 90s action flick, the film does suffer from a paucity of action, especially in the draggy middle act. There is a period of 30-40 minutes where Wai-Leung is convalescing in his brother’s bungalow and Sgt. Kwok is going above the law and observing Chiu, whom he knows has framed Wai-Leung. This section of the film may test any viewer’s patience.

It does start to pick up in the last half hour or so, starting with a fight between Yukari Oshima and chopsockey veteran Pomson Shi (Snake in the Monkey’s Shadow), who plays Chiu’s lead enforcer. There is an assassination attempt by Wai-Leung on Chiu, which leads to some fighting. And then there is the final fight in the cramped bungalow, where Yukari Oshima throws down with Dick Wei while Aaron Kwok and Max Mok team up against Pomson (what an interesting Anglican name). There is some good martial arts on display and that finale is very brutal and vicious. I would even venture to nominate this for Phillip Kwok’s best choreographed martial arts sequence of his post-Venom Mob career.

Aaron Kwok and Max Mok do well with the choreography, but it is really Yukari Oshima and Dick Wei who shine. Dick Wei, a Taekwondo expert, was never the flashiest of the kickers, especially given his particular style. But what Dick could do is the basics with speed, precision and ferocity. His roundhouse, side, and spin kicks look and feel like they hurt—oftentimes because they actually did. Yukari Oshima looks as good as ever, even though she only gets two fight sequences. We get to see her perform an “over-the-shoulder” kick and a scorpion kick, which is great.

The two are well matched, even though the script foregoes the usual HK action approach of “a sufficiently-trained woman is just as good as an equally-trained man” (which us fans can easily suspend our disbelief on) and goes for something a little more realistic: if two individuals, a man and a woman, have about equal training and skills in the absolute sense, the man will stay at the advantage based on his musculature and body structure. Dick Wei did it in Angel Enforcers and he does it again here.

Zeiram (1991)

Zeiram (1991)
Aka: Zeram

Starring: Yuko Moriyama, Kunihiro Ida, Yukijiro Hotaru, Masakazu Handa, Mizuho Yoshido
Director: Keita Amemiya
Action Director: Mitsuo Abe
Special FX Director: Hajime Matsumoto, Hiroshi Onodera

This one of those films that I caught on TV at the tail-end and wondered just what it was I was watching. It was cable TV back in the mid-1990s when I was channel surfing and happened upon a Japanese movie I was unfamiliar with (despite being a huge Godzilla fan at the time) and watched the last ten or fifteen minutes, which was full of action and monsters. A year or so later, I came across it again, probably on the Sci-Fi Channel (back when it was still cool) and watched all of it. It was neat. Then, when the Sci-Fi Channel did their Saturday Anime cycle, I noticed that the anime adaptation of this movie was on and taped it (over the course of two Saturdays). It is one of my favorite animes of all time. I eventually got this movie (and its sequel) on VHS from Video Daikaiju near the end of the 1990s (or early 2000s).

The movie opens with some high contrast black-and-white photography of a strange, mushroom-headed being walking through a corridor, viciously slaughtering all the soldiers standing in its way. Enter: Zeiram.

Switch to our Earth, where we meet our two main male protagonists: Kamiya (Yukijiro Hotaru, Gamera, Guardian of the Universe and Deep Sea Monster Reigo) and Teppei (Kunihiro Ida, of Weather Girl and Moon Over Tao). Both men work for an electronics company and seem to specialize mainly in equipment repairs. They’re working on a Sunday, which both men resent for differing reasons: Kamiya has scored high on his latest race bet and wants to celebrate with his friends; Teppei has a date with one of his female co-workers (whom we’ll never meet). Their last job of the day is to investigate a claim of someone stealing power from the grid. I would think that would be the job for the power company and not an electronics company, but maybe it’s a Japanese thing.

They show up at the apartment in question, which is inhabited by a mysterious woman named Iria (Yuko Moriyama, of Kunoichi Lady Ninja and Tokyo Raiders) and her talking computer, Bob (voiced by Masakazu Handa). Before our heroes’ arrival, we had met Iria and Bob, who were talking about setting up “the Zone” and earning money from their latest job. Yes, they are intergalactic bounty hunters and their next target is Zeiram, whom we saw in the opening scene. “The Zone” refers to a temporary pocket dimension which can mimic the surrounding area up to a certain radius and thus can be used to carry out jobs without endangering the locals. Zeiram is on its way to Earth and Iria wants to capture him. So, she creates a version of the Zone to resemble to the industrial zone of Tokyo and sets up a portal for Zeiram’s travel pod to land directly in it. Unfortunately, when Kamiya and Teppei show up to find out why she’s stealing power—we learn that the Earth has been evaluated as being naturally unfriendly and uncooperative to outsiders from space (even friendly ones), so she’s working on the sly—they are accidentally transported into the Zone. That means that Iria will have to work twice as hard to fight Zeiram and protect the two humans (the dialog suggests that she and Bob will lose their bounty hunter license if any of the locals dies on the job, probably something about the “prime directive”).

From there on out, we have martial arts battles with monsters, gunplay and explosions, lots of slimy special effects (Zeiram can create little monsters from the DNA of other organisms it has assimilated), more gunplay and fighting, and even a scene of Teppei eating a space cockroach. At one point, Iria is transported out of the Zone and has to direct Teppei and Kamiya while she fixes the transporter. And Zeiram is not just powerful, he has several different forms he takes on whenever it looks like the humans are going to defeat him.

Zeiram is a highly entertaining Tokusatsu film from Keita Amemiya, an artist an effects man who became a director of some renown in Japan. This is one of his earlier films and he shows a good eye for monster designs and action sequences. These days, Amemiya is probably most well known for his work on the “Garo” TV series/franchise, which is sort of a more adult-oriented Tokusatsu series. He also directed Mechanical Violator Hakaider and Cyber Ninja, the latter of which was available to rent at places like Blockbuster Video back in the 1990s. He also directed an episode of “Dinosaur Squadron Zyuranger,” which corresponds with the first season of the “Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers” (specifically the episode with the Terror Toad villain).

The movie takes a little while to get going, but once the characters enter the Zone, the pace picks up considerably. My main complaint is the interval in which Iria is temporarily trapped outside the Zone, leaving our clumsy heroes to fend for themselves. It’s a good way of upping the ante and the stakes, since the two men have no skills and have to improvise to not die, but Yuko Moriyama is so compelling as Iria that watching her just hang around doing nothing is a bit of a letdown. Thankfully, she eventually finds her way back into the film, which sets up a triple-climax for the movie. And director Amemiya is really good at drawing out the suspense and upping the stakes so that deliverance really comes at the last possible second.

Most people will never forget the design of Zeiram, with its hulking green body, mushroom-shaped head, and a tiny, white, humanoid face in its head that can extend, much like the secondary mouth of the Xenomorph. Zeiram can engage in hand-to-hand combat, wield a gun, and produce clones of its victims to use as his minions. The effects are attributed to Hajime Matsumoto and Hiroshi Onodera. The former is best known for his work on Gamera: Guardian of the Universe and later Godzilla-Mothra-King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack and Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla. Onodera, on the other hand, worked on the FX teams for all of the Heisei Godzilla and Mothra movies, plus some of the early 2000s Ultraman movies. Their job is to give life to Keito Amemiya’s monster designs, which they do handily, mixing rod puppets, man-in-suit techniques, and even some stop motion animation.

The martial arts is a little limited, and its clear that Yuko Moriyama is doubled for the flashier moves. Japanese cinema was not the place to turn to for quality martial arts in the 1990s, but watching a beautiful woman like Moriyama (and her stunt double) karate-kicking a giant, four-legged stop-motion skeleton is just the epitome of entertainment.