THE BLACK ANGEL (1997) - Excellently brutal and ruthless movie from Japan. It starts out with a Japanese mob figure being protected at home by his body guards when two rather young and innocent looking women knock on the door for help. Brutal gun battle takes place in the home killing everyone except a little girl who escapes with the help of a family friend. Then to be later escorted to the airport by a gun yielding female called Black Angel. The little girl was sent to America for protection and comes back 14 years later to avenge the death of her parents. This time Black Angel is working to kill her until she realizes that she is the girl she helped long ago. Incredibly dark film with ruthless mob activities and gun play. The film almost plays like a Tarantino film and the story is very Anime-ish in dialogue and dubbing. The relationship between the girl and Black Angel actually hinder this film and you don't really feel the connection, but that doesn't matter because the first 2/3 of the film are really great. The last 1/3 is spent trying to establish some kind of meaning behind the two's relationship, but wasn't really necessary. Reminds me of a film from Hong Kong called
THE BLACK CAT (1991), but
THE BLACK ANGEL was darker and more brutal.
(7 out of 10 Stars)
Part of my Tokyo Shock triple pack. It's Tarantino style story and action. Highly recommended.
