Reviewed By-Paul Cooke
Director : Hitoshi Ozawa
Scripted : Hitoshi Ozawa
Starring : Shu Ehara , Kazuyoshi Ozawa , Aya Nakamura ,
Tate Gouta & Hiroshi Miyasaka

If you enjoy your Action raw and relentless , that leaves you with a taste for more , then Director Hitoshi Ozawa definitely scores with , ‘ The Big Fight ’. Like a devilled fish Ozawa dresses this designer presentation with numerous crowd pleasing moments , complimenting it with slick production values , as well as serving it all up with a unique flavour all his own to top it off all very nicely. Shooting right out of your home cinema screen like a three dimensional metaphorical bullet with an engraving that reads , ‘ Explosive Entertainment ’ !.

Brassily emulating the gang structure name roll call from Tarantino’s , ‘ Reservoir Dogs ’, with names assigned from playing cards to a pack of ace criminals , the deal is set for a five hundred million Yen pay day. The connection to Director Atsushi Muroga's much earlier 1995 film ( that Hitoshi Ozawa both Produced and starred ) called simply , ‘ Score ’, appears to be the tenuous link for the operation here to retrieve the money stolen from the Central Bank. A character referred to simply as Cash stashes the money in a hidden venue but gets killed before the money can be later divided up. The neat premise for , ‘ Score 2 ’, is then set as a surviving member of the original bank job holds the key to two explosively charged cases of the money , assisted by a map which reveals the hiding place to be within an amusement park. A window of opportunity to reclaim the riches occurs for the team of five men and one feisty femme , as planned renovation work closes the park down for a seven hour period between night and sunrise. Kitted out and each with individualist traits to do the job at hand it’s not long before inherent distrust and the greed for wealth reveals itself amongst them , with the night only just about to begin !.

The isolated setting of the amusement park works to Hitoshi Ozawa's benefit and great credit as he works well in this tight environment , as displayed in the similarly structured survivalists fighting premise for the Zombie / gangster outing , ‘ Junk ’ in which his previously collaborating colleague Atsushi Muroga delivered so well. The bullet ballet of squib delivering blood again splashes across the screen with colourful relish , and at times in stylised homage to the John Woo Hong Kong epics of greater days drank dry but refreshingly imbued for an audience still thirsting.

Dressed with a cinematic blue hue that sharply heightens proceedings against the night backdrop the ambience is almost Mario Bava’esque in quality , stylishly adding to the adrenalin fuelled action interaction that hots up even more with the arrival of a rogue police pairing. Backed up with a multitude of heavily armed men the equally avarice minded duo duly lay waste to theme park , having twisted fun as they go tearing into the group of money seekers with a relentless onslaught of bullets and grenades. This is one roller coaster ride of a movie that is aptly set with the entertainment value notched up a gear , well worth the price of admission for the Big Fight ahead.

As the onslaught of ballistic battle proceeds , the body bag brigade could retire on content payment with the morning clean up here , the race to find and retrieve the cache of money literally plays out to an explosive and satisfyingly bloody finale. Littered not only with numerously dispatched carcasses but liberally with a dark vein of humour to relish amongst the red variety , and enough fuel injected high octane Action to align itself with the best that modern Japanese ‘B’ movie cinema currently has to offer. The conclusive Mexican standoff is the ultimate pay off for the Score to be settled , and with such a neatly compact movie run time it’s one that you may find yourself wanting to unwind with again straight away. Score one for the good guys and , ‘ Score 2 ’, for the sheer hell of a guaranteed endorphin rush that’ll cure any affliction for remotely fast forwarding for sure.

Release : Asian Film Network
Coding : PAL Region 2
Sound : Dolby Digital 2.0
Extras : Original Japanese Language / English or German Subtitles /
Subtitles Appliable In Or Out Of The Viewing Area / Trailer /
Picture Gallery / Other Film Trailers / Junk Picture Gallery /
1:85:1 Format With Anamorphic 16:9 Enhancement

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