Tokyo Gore Police

Great title isn't it? The last time I saw a real gore fest of a movie was probably Saw. Haven't really been into gorey movies, so I didn't really have really to compare this flick to. On its own merit though....bloody good fun - pun intended. When it starts off with the below image, you can pretty much guage how the rest of the movie is going to play out!!

Set in the near future in...well...Tokyo...a battle is taking place between Tokyo Police Force and mutants known as Engineers. A scientist known as "Key Man" devises a way for when a human is wounded they mutate into this monstrous creature developing a weapon like body part to attack their prey.

The sheer variety of body weapons presented to you for the next two hours is like a visual assault on your eyes. Someone's imagination here went into overdrive! But more on that later.....

The main protagonist of the story is a female cop called Ruka (played by the beautiful Eihi Shiina from Audition fame). Ruka isn't exactly the happiest girl around, shes a pretty miserable, anti social, self harming kind of girl, and to be fair you can see her point after watching her dad's head explode (above) in front of her eyes.

We get this grim insight within the opening five minutes and shortky Ruka is called to deal with an Engineer who has a chainsaw as his an extension for his arm, bit like Ash in Evil Dead, but this time played by Tak Sakaguchi of Versus fame in a special appearance. Ruka, although impersonating a sad goth teenager is actually very good at dealing with Engineers, and she deals with Chainsaw man pretty swiftly in a cool chainsaw fight.

Yo...

VICTORIOUS!!

After being called to investigate a pretty gruesome murder (body parts in a box), Ruka starts to investigate and search for the guy responsible, who we learn to be the Key Man. With a twist of irony which I thought only existed in Bollywood, this investigation of Key Man is also linked to her fathers murder! As the story progresses we find out how Key Man came to be who he is and we come to know how he inserts a key into a human which turns them into Engineers - visually. The story does flow pretty well and does eventually conclude quite nicely, but at the end of the day this is all about the gore, and the imaginative mutations and killings are hilarious! There are some great set pieces showcasing some horrific engineers designs....I can't show some of them as this is a family site.....but if you recall back to From Dusk Till Dawn, remember a guy in the bar had a gun in his crotch....yeah well think about that but multiply by like a hundred!!

Key Man

What I loved about the style of TGP is the satirical edge it had. Director Yoshihiro Nishimura gives Robocop's Paul Verhoeven a run for his money in some great in film commercials in the same vain as, Nukem, 6000SUX, The Heart Centre et al. Be it from the Anti Harikari advert to commercials on the privatisation of the police force - morbid humour at its best and very relevant to current Japanese culture and satire. The latter coincidentally has some relevance to the greater plot, but great commercials none the less.

Speaking of Japanese culture, there was a great scene in response to one of Japan's public transport problems - Chikan or Train Groping. There are around 4000 men arrested each year for groping in public transport. A campaign was introduced to help reduce the fetish by promoting women to grab the man's hand and shove it in the air and shout Chikan to embarass and shame the groper, but most women did not do this as to not create a scene. Well they are Asian! Gropers know this and subsequently exploit it. However our beloved Ruka isn't going to take any of this bullshit, are you Ruka?!

Yeah I think I'll keep my hands to myself!

Eihi Shiina performs well in the role of Ruka and does pull off the tough cop persona very well. I will always remember her though as the pycho wife from Audition even though, I mean that film puts the fear of marriage into any men! The supporting characters do their job well, I love the despatch girl with her inputs into the story to help the viewer along. Ultimately TGP doesn't take itself seriously and that's the main reason why it is so enjoyable. Yes there are some effects where you can blatantly tell its a rubber face or rubber arm, but that's lovable nature of gore fest movies. The amount of fake red blood used is nothing short of phenomenal, very reminiscent of the old Samurai and Baby Cart films, slow motion arms cut off and a elevating spraying of blood that lasts for a good ten minutes.  The climax was great if a little predictable and fight scene between an engineered Ruka (very cool) and her step dad's pet dog (!) was actually very exciting and impressive. The end scene does leave it open for a sequel and if there is one and Eihi is in it I am there! Right next stop Machine Girl and Vampire Girl vs Frakenstein Girl (yes I know!!!!).

Qurbani Review

Having watched this recently I thought i'd write a post about why this film is possibly one of the greatest reasons why you dont fuck with people in the 1970's. One of the best masala films of all time, Qurbani blended together some great, if amusing action, some romance, friendship and a case of the worst road rage ever filmed. The opening funk filled credits are typical of the time zooming over explosion filled screens reminding us why Kalyanji-Anandji were one of a kind in music direction.

Our villains of the piece open the film up, when Rakka (Amrish Puri with hair) refuses to drop charges against his ex-wife's (Jwala - Aruna Irani) brother, Vikram (Shakti Kapoor) after he tried to kill him in retaliation for seducing Jwala and taking all her wealth. Not a very nice guy is he Rakka - he's also not nice to a crippled beggar who tried to clean his car. BUT - all is okay, the beggar gets righteous assistance in the form of hairy chest exposing all round bad ass action dude - Rajesh (Feroz Khan). Why? Because he wears his shirt open to his waist, a medallion round his neck AND a cravat! After trashing Rakka's car he's off to see his girl....the luscious and oh so sexy Sheela (Zeenat Aman) picturising a song that needs no introduction - Nazia Hassan's Aap Jaisa Koi, music by Biddu.

At 16 years old Nazia Hassan's career started here with this song. Known as the sweethart of Pakistan, she passed away on August 13th 2000 from lung cancer aged 35. Along with this song and Boom Boom, she was the reason I got into music of this era. She is sorely missed and will always be remembered.

Rajesh is a professional thief, an occupation he keeps hidden from Sheela for obvious reasons and after being captured by Inspector Amjad Khan, is sent to jail. I have to mention the fight scene between Rajesh and Amjad, although they lack any kind of fighting skills and the obvious presence of trampolines below the view of the camera, this does not stop this fight from being both amusing and exciting. Amjad Khan makes a pretty useless role into a memorable one and the film subsequently revived his career. The banter between both of the Khans are a joy to watch and very amusing. The second hero of the piece is Amar (Vinod Khanna), who lays some serious indian kung fu to some thugs harassing the lovley Sheela in a cafe - while carrying his cute daughter on his shoulder. WTF?! Rajesh and Amar become best friends, and show this by touching, hugging and winking at each other....a lot...and eventually overcome the evil of Jwala and her psychotic brother. The ending was both touching and satisfying. Amar dying and reaching out to his dost Rajesh without a single word being uttered....well it made me a have a lump in my throat and eyes a tad watery.

The whole movie is tight and the story flows quite nicely along, and is refreshing to watch a film that does not involve family melodramatics. Having a caused some controversey with Zeenat Aman in a skimpy bikini running out of the sea, man, see some of the stripper shows now! I have the greatest of admiration for Feroz Khan for producing a film that respects the maturer audience and delivers a fast paced, slick, fun action movie. Only he can produce a film that has both class AND cheese. Each role has presence and character, and its this character which I think is sorely missing in modern Bollywood. You try and replicate this film with a modern cast, there's no way it would hold up. The script has some cracking and poingant lines that still hold up today. The only donwside to the film are some of the comic relief moments, although welcoming, are not as funny, but slightly annoying. The soundtrack ranks as one of the best, each song is a classic and to this day are still fondly remembered by all. The favourite for me is Laila, possibly the best introduction with its crescending drum beats to Kanchans vocals.

The highlight for me though was the worst case of road rage mentioned at the start, where Vikram is blocking the road talking to Rajesh. Amar by typical Bollywood coincidence behind blowing the horn wanting to get past. Vikram obviously doesn't like this and curses at him. Remember when I said you dont screw with guys from this era, well what happens as a result is Amar shoving Vikram through every window of his car. Nice.

I was brought up with this film, I continue to watch this film every year at least twice and will continue to do so and I will even force my kids one day to watch this! It contains my favourite singer, my favourite song and my favourite music director. Mr Feroz Khan - I salute you!

Memorable quotes:

"Shut up you bastaaaard.."

"Am I following you, or are you follwing me!!!???"

"Well you certainly arent God, and are not acting like a man, and Im not afraid of the devil"

"Helloooo Sheela, kya sex hai teri awaz, sexy body, sexy le..."..."BASTARD...mere bhi kya khayal hai...DO YOU FIND ME SEXY?!"