Sushi Girl

So I came across this movie a long while ago, but before I got a chance to watch it, it vanished.  So from then on, it was always lingering in my thoughts.  It sounded absurd, but just my kinda absurd.  A man, after spending six years in jail for a failed robbery, is released.  He finds himself at a sushi restaurant, with the four other members of the robbery who he had remained silent about.  But they all want to know what happened to the loot he was carrying when it all went to hell.  All the while this is happening, the sushi girl, who has been trained remain like a stone for the customers... need I go on?  So obviously I've been keeping my eye out for this movie to show up again.  Yeah I know I could probably find it online, but that's asking a lot of me and my internet is kinda crap.  But then it happened.  It showed up on Netflix.  So I settled in, cracked open a cold one, and hit play.

Netflix: Oh yeah
Reviewer: Hattori Marko

Seriously?  How could you pass up something with this as a poster?

So I know I cut out of the plot there, but really, if you've seen Reservoir Dogs, it's not too far from that.  But don't take that as an insult to the movie.  There's enough going on in Sushi Girl to give it it's own character and make it unique.  But the one thing is that it does revolve around the aftermath of a robbery gone wrong.  Just several years after the fact instead of right after.  And the other thing is that a majority of the movie surrounds the torture of Fish (Noah Hathaway), the man who just got out of prison.  Since he was the bagman during the robbery, obviously he'd know where the money went.  But this is when the story begins to twist and turn a bit, keeping you engaged and wondering what the fuck is happening.  You will wonder that at time, but like I said, you'll stay engaged.

I said torture above.  I said a lot of things, but the 271st word was torture and that's what I'd like to talk about.  Know how in Reservoir Dogs it was just Mr. Orange torturing the cop?  Well in this turns into a sadistic game of who can get him to talk first between Crow (Mark Hamill) and Max (Andy Mackenzie).  As the anger grows within the group at the table overseeing the torture, so to does the brutality of the torture.  It throws you really; the violence begins rather tame (at least for me) and then moves rather jarringly to bloody violent.  And we see characters crack and we see characters turn into monsters.  And that's what I found most engaging, with the characters reacting and acting with the violence.

And now a little bit on the acting.  Boom, flawless segue right there.  But really, it was a grab bag of acting all throughout the movie.  Not including the side characters, who're all pretty forgettable, the main cast is, for the most part, good.  Tony Todd, as the leader Duke, is always entertaining.  His impossibly deep voice is incredibly chilling, added with the fact his character is one of the more sadistic.  James Duval plays Francis, who they attempt to add a character arc to, what with him having a kid now, but he's just not as engaging as he should be.  Noah Hathaway really just sits there, says the odd line and screams from pain, which he does unnervingly well.  Andy Mackenzie just kinda growls through his lines, since his role is just to be very violent and unhinged.  But I know what you're waiting for.  I said his name up above.  Mark Hamill.

I don't know why I decided to go to another paragraph, but I did.  Delaying for tension I guess.  Mark Hamill is the reason I became so intrigued with this movie, since it seems way out of his wheelhouse.  But he did not disappoint, and even when the movie itself lagged, he was the reason I kept going with it.  He plays way over the top with Crow, being both hilarious and brutal throughout.  Crow is the over-enthusiastic torturer of the group, and Hamill plays it with gleeful abandon.  And while some of the dialogue can be stilted, it comes alive when Hamill goes off or when he's arguing with someone, which happens quite a bit.  It's like he's the live action version of any of the characters he's voiced over the years.  And what's more with the characters is that for the first 20 odd minutes, we just watch as all of the men come to the restaurant.  We watch them interact and reveal certain character traits and where each of their relationships lie with one another.  It does a great job setting them all up and making sure we know who they are before the blood starts spilling and the bullets start flying.  And that does a lot for the engagement of the viewer for the rest of the movie.

So in the end, I'd want you to sit down and give it a go.  The story might not be framed all the originally, since it's just a retreading of Reservoir Dogs, but it makes up for that with unique characters and a, for the most part, twisty and violent story.  Some character may be less enthralling than others, but they keep you going, all the way up to the very interesting ending, one I don't want to give away.  It's on Netflix, it's short and to the bloody point and it's good with a bunch of drinks.  Do it.

4/10