Mutant Girls Squad (2010)

Story by Noboru Iguchi
Screenplay by Jun Tsugita
Directed by Noboru Iguchi & Yoshihiro Nishimura & Tak Sakaguchi

Another Japanese insano-fest that spawned when the directors got drunk together, and Noboru Iguchi said they should make a film about a mutant, where they all direct part of it. Mutant Girls Squad is that exact film.

Rin is a meek schoolgirl who gets picked on, until the day of her 16th birthday, when she is bullied, but her body starts to undergo strange changes. She rushes home, where her parents reveal they are mutants, and that she is a mutant too, and her mutation will now show itself because she's 16.

The Anti-Mutant Task Force (with guns on their noses) bust in and kill Rin's parents, but she is able to escape with the use of her robotic claw hand, her mutation. And so it goes from there, as she uncovers the conspiracy to keep mutants down, even though they may be the next evolutionary step.

So it's basically The Machine Girl with a dash of X-Men thrown in, but in a movie this high concept, the actual story is the least of their worries. Unlike many films by multiple directors, this has one cohesive story, with the first 30 minutes directed by Iguchi, the second 30 by Nishimura, the f/x master, and the last 30 by Sakaguchi, the star of Versus, the film that put high concept Japanese films back on the map.

Filled with violent rampages by the main character, the film has a heart and it's not all senseless violence. The senseless violence serves a higher purpose, to at once make light of and condemn the practice of discrimination, even if it's against mutants, because as ridiculous as it may sound, they would need rights as well.

Like many other previous films from the directors, it carries all of their trademarks: completely off the wall concepts, copious amounts of practical splatter, and intense martial arts action. The biggest problem is the film does feel like it has separate, distinct pieces. In a film like this, though, if roughly shifting gears act to act is the worst thing I can say about it, then I suppose that's not too bad at all.

Most people will be drawn to this film from the title and high concept alone, the good news is once you get in the door it's not a rip-off, most people will come for the f/x and gore, and of course there is plenty of that. The film shows moments of thought too, the skewed experience of social reality is used to explain away a lot of the character's violence, but in the end, Rin is forced to face the consequences of her bloody rampage, something that doesn't happen too often in films like this.

A solid effort, for what is essentially a joke film. The low budget elements still show, but this bunch is getting better at using the high concept as a backdrop, whereas in previous films sometimes the pacing got lost in subplots and drama that didn't belong in a high concept action/gore film. They're quickly improving the production process, which will naturally allow for more attention to the story, which can't be a bad thing. The way I see it, Sushi Typhoon films have nowhere to go but up.

7.8/10 (C+)