20140509: Action Review--Sushi Girl

Sushi Girl

1. Fundamentals, reception.
1. American live action feature length film, 2012, rated R, 98 minutes, action, crime.
2. IMDB: 6.0/10.0 from 2,795 audience ratings.  Estimated budget: 750,000 USD.
3. Rotten Tomatoes: 40% on the meter; 44% liked it from 459 audience ratings.
4. Netflix: 3.5/5.0 from 75,879 audience ratings.  I saw this the first time on The Movie Channel.
5. Directed by: Kern Saxton.
6. Starring: Tony Todd as Duke, James Duvall as Francis, Noah Hathaway as Fish, Andy Mackenzie as Max, Mark Hamill as Crow, Michael Biehn as Mike, Jeff Fahey as Morris, Danny Trejo as Schlomo, Cortney Palm as Sushi Girl, Sonny Chiba as Sushi Chef, David Dastmalchian as Nelson, Cyrus Alexander as Martin.


2. Setup and Plot
1. Fish has been in jail for six years, without his comrades from a diamond heist gone bad.  He took the fall, he did the time, and now he's out.


2. Duke, Max, Francis, and Crow treat him to a sumptuous dinner in a reserved room.  The food is sushi, served off the body of a naked young woman.  The woman has been trained not to react to what the guests are doing, and this probably served her well.


3. Soon enough, the real reason for the meeting surfaces.  The robbers had a bad accident: their van and a car encountered each other at speed.  The gang's driver was killed, the other driver was dealt with by Duke, and the cops and firemen showed up quickly.  In the process, most of the gang got away, but the diamonds seem to have gone missing.  The ones who got away want Fish to tell them where the diamonds are.


4. There are many flashbacks as the details of the heist are rehashed, particularly the events surrounding the traffic crash.  When Fish refuses to tell his erstwhile partners where the diamonds are, they decide to encourage his veracity by force.


5. Will there be a falling out among thieves?


3. Conclusions
1. One line summary: Excellent acting, but a weak plot; redeemed somewhat by the ending.
2. Three stars of five.


4. Scores
1. Cinematography: 5/10 Perhaps this was done intentionally, as Tarantino sometimes does, but the visuals looked gritty and jumpy, rather sub-VHS quality.  In other segments, the visuals were of reasonable quality.


2. Sound: 9/10 No problems.


3. Acting: 10/10 Mark Hamill, Tony Todd, and Noah Hathaway were great.  In much smaller roles, Michael Biehn, Jeff Fahey, and Danny Trejo were fine.  Cortney Palm also had a limited role, but it was pivotal to the overall effect of the film.


4. Screenplay: 4/10 The last five minutes were just exquisite.  On the other hand, the characters played by Michael Biehn, Jeff Fahey, and Danny Trejo seemed to be vastly underused.  The worst part for me was the disposition of the diamonds after the accident.  It should have been abundantly clear where the diamonds were, and the whole extended torture sequence was unnecessary.