Sasori

cover

AKA: Scorpion, Female Convict Scorpion, Female Prisoner Scorpion, Female Convict 701, Female Convict 701: Scorpion

Year of release: 2008

Genre: martial arts/exploitation

Director: Joe Ma

Action director: Wong Wai-Fai

Producers: Sam Leong, Yoneyama Shin, Kato Toji

Writer: Joe Ma, Fire Lee

Cinematography: Joe Chan

Editing: Azrael Chung

Music: Lincoln Lo, Kiyoshi Yoshikawa

Stars: Miki Mizuno, Emme Wong, Sam Lee, Bruce Leung, Dylan Kuo, Nana Natsume, Simon Yam, Ryo Ishibashi, Lam Suet

Not rated; contains IIB-level language, violence, and brief nudity

Movie Review Index
Main Page

Sasori  Sasori

Sasori  Sasori

Writer/Director Joe Ma deviated from his usual realm of light romantic comedies with 2008's Sasori, a remake of the 1972 Japanese classic women in prison picture Female Convict 701: Scorpion. Throughout its' running time, Sasori flirts with becoming a full-on hard-edged exploitation flick that would make even jaded Category III fans happy, but Ma can't seem to pull the trigger, and, as a result, the film ends up feeling a bit washed-out and dumbed down.

Sasori (which is Japanese for "scorpion") revolves around Nami (Miki Mizuno), a wealthy young woman who is framed for the murder of her in-laws. She is sent to a cruel prison (run by a warden played by the wonderfully hammy Lam Suet) that stages underground brawls for fun and profit, and it soon becomes clear to Nami that she must learn to fight to survive. Once she escapes the hellhole, Nami puts her new found skills to good use as she goes out for bloody revenge.

Joe Ma would seem to have most of the ingredients for a jolly good women in prison exploitation flick. A fight in the shower? Check. Mud wrestling? Check. But the majority of the T&A portion is fairly tame, with the most nudity present being a butt cheek or nipple barely visible underneath a wet t-shirt. As a softcore setpiece, Sasori is, well, soft. Bad puns aside, your average episode of many basic cable television shows like Sons of Anarchy feels racier than this, which comes off more like a PG-13 tease.

Sasori is seemingly more successful when it comes to its' onscreen portrayal of violence. Early on, the fights have a hard edge to them -- these women are here to kick ass. And if the movie had proceeded in that general direction, then we might have had a real winner on our hands. Instead, wire fu and bad CGI is thrown into the mix, which makes the fight scenes in the later portion of the film come off as too over the top to be exciting. Like the movie as a whole, these scenes never seem to find their true groove, making this more of an average production rather than mandatory viewing material.

RATING: 5.5

Notes:

  • The original source material for the film is a manga created in 1970 by Toru Shinohara called Joshu Nana-maru-ichi Go.
  • As per Mike Leeder, Sasori was never released in Hong Kong cinemas or home video.
  • The version watched for this review was from Netflix's streaming service, which is sourced from the Tokyo Shock DVD. It appears to be uncut and in the original Cantonese/Japanese sound mix.