Hard Revenge Milly firmly falls into the new breed of hyper-violent apocalyptic action that seems to be coming exclusively from Japan in the last few years. With titles like Tokyo Gore Police and Samurai Princess, the sub-genres blending of traditional swordplay with outrageous blood-spraying gore and characters that usually sport some form of cybernetic enhancement gives the makers plentiful opportunity to throw all logic and taste out the window in order to dream up the most bizarre action sequences they can.

Written and directed by Takanori Tsujimoto, this tells the tale of Milly (Miki Mizuno) who finds herself drifting through the post-apocalyptic wasteland that of what was once Japan in order to hunt down the pack of psychotic Jack brothers who, two years prior, she witnessed murder her husband and set her baby on fire while she was being repeatedly stabbed and unable to stop it. She ends up being left for dead but instead of giving up she's become driven to get back at those who ruined her life using her trusty sword, her fists, and the fact her right leg happens to have a shotgun built into it.

And that's basically all the plot you're going to get during this flick's brief 44 minute running time. With most of the action set in what looks like an abandoned school, Hard Revenge Milly does suffer from a bit of padding in the mid-section as we wait around with Milly for something exciting to happen (and are treated to a few effective flashbacks) before her example of killing one of the brothers to draw the others in pays off and leads to a fisticuff filled finale that made the wait all the more worthwhile. And that's even without me mentioning a final demise that has to be seen to be believed.

With her black leather trench coat and hair hanging over one eye, Mizuno makes a striking figure as Milly. While she's not really given a lot to do in the way of character development, she more than makes up for it by holding her own in all the martial arts sequences. Delivering convincing looking fight choreography and sword slashing while coming across as morose yet forceful, Mizuno aptly fills the role as our heroine. Mitsuki Koga also does well playing the psychotic leader of the Jack brothers and gets that aforementioned send-off that's sure to stick in your mind for a while.

While filmed with an obvious lack of budget (which is mostly apparent in the obvious, and so-so, CGI used to show us a city in ruins), Tsujimoto offers stylized direction and the flick never really suffers from its budgetary restraints. In fact, the usage of practical effects just helps add a certain sort of cheap charm to the proceedings and you can't help but smile when a just decapitated baddie's body continues to fire off his gun while arterial blood sprays from his neck stump. Sure, everything within this package is pretty shallow but it does offer up enough entertainment to be watchable.

Granted, this probably isn't for all and you have to be familiar with some of the more over-the-top flicks coming from Japan to appreciate it, but it's a decent calling card for Tsujimoto that he followed up a year later with the sequel Hard Revenge Milly: Bloody Battle which is said to offer up more plot and runs about half-an-hour longer as well as bringing back Mizuno to kill some more thugs. (Chris Hartley, 7/28/11)

Directed By: Takanori Tsujimoto.
Written By: Takanori Tsujimoto.

Starring: Miki Mizuno, Mitsuki Koga, Hirotsugu Imamura, Tetsuya Nakamura.