Gun Crazy: Episode 1 - A Woman from Nowhere

Director Atsushi Muroga's 'Gun Crazy: Episode 1 - A Woman from Nowhere' is a calculated attempt at cult coolness that admittedly, on paper, sounds rather promising: hot female bounty-hunter Saki ( Ryoko Yonekura), clad in leather and brandishing a pair of over-sized hand cannons, rides into a lawless 'town' in order to settle an old score with evil gang boss Mr. Tojo (Shingo Tsurumi). Styled after the classic spaghetti westerns of Sergio Leone, the film features a suitably barren landscape, slow motion gun battles, menacing stares in close-up, and even a Morricone inspired score (complete with whistling).

Sadly, Muroga doesn't quite fulfill the potential of his premise thanks to a rather cheap shot-on-video look, the lack of convincing gun-play from his star, and not nearly enough of the insane OTT violence one might reasonably expect from a Japanese film called Gun Crazy. Sure, we get the guns, but there just ain't enough of the 'crazy' on display for my liking (the film's closing minutes offer the most outrageous moment, but it's all a case of 'too little, too late').

If it had been up to me, I'd have given Saki a wider variety of weaponry throughout (and a lot less clothing), made her take at least one unnecessary shower, included a lot more in the way of bloody squib shoot-em-up action, and featured a climactic battle in Mr. Tojo's booby trapped lair against an army of robot ninjas, albino kung fu dwarfs, zombie gimps, and a pair of lesbian conjoined-twin assassins! (okay, okay, that might be going a bit too far, but you get the idea...).

5.5 out of 10, rounded up to 6 for IMDb.