Return to dark.

Hong Kong has/had a history of producing some interesting GWG films. Return to Dark is not one of these films and is really a crime/Triad action film. When a trio of robbers commit a heist it soon becomes apparent they have chosen the wrong person to steal from. Soon a vicious female Triad enforcer (Joey Meng) and her lover are on the trail of the hapless thieves determined to make an example of them This includes her beating up fellow triad members and overseeing a particularly nasty fate of a girlfriend of one of the robbers.

Once the required information has been extracted from the boyfriend her murderous crusade gathers pace.

Joey used to be a model before taking up acting and her natural good looks shine through even the shock blond wig she wears throughout the film. Utterly ruthless and merciless, my only complaint about this film is that her demise comes too soon relative to her boyfriend..

NOTE: The director of the film chose to incorporate some very heavy filtering. I have 'corrected' some of the screen captures to show a more natural lighting and others are left as originally filmed.

Bloody Monday

Japanese TV is an acquired taste and I speak as someone who has watched a fair amount. Most appears to be just bizarre to Western eyes and so it is welcome to report on a series which is both great from a bad girl viewpoint and also has a coherent, understandable story line. Bloody Monday is a well executed spy/crime thriller and concerns a terrorist plot to release a deadly virus in Tokyo.

In addition to the Japanese anti-terrorist force (Third I) being mobilised to deal with the threat a schoolboy hacker Takagi Fujimaru codenamed Falcon (Miura Haruma) is also recruited to thwart the attack There is a nice variety of gun toting female cops, not all of them working for the good guys.

The terrorists are part of a Japanese death cult and includes several female members most prominently seen when Falcon goes to a restaurant to negotiate with a leader of the cult.

There are family members and fellow students of Falcon some of whom may not be as supportive and innocent as they first seem.

And finally there is, the cherry on the cake, Oirhara Maya (Kichise Michiko) a free lance assassin working for the terrorist group. This lady really looks the part of a terrorist assassin and she has a great presence whenever she is on screen, regardless of whether she is taking out a target, leading a raid or threatening the good guys.

 

 

All in all a fine TV series which was followed by another, to be covered at a later date.