Sugar: Howling of Angel (1996)
After her husband and child are murdered, a woman becomes an assassin for hire.
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Reviews
Redundant and unnecessary.
Powerful
Instant Favorite.
Blistering performances.
I was so looking forward to seeing Makiko Kuno again after Beautiful Hunter, and she was still worth seeing, but the flaws in this film just made barely watchable.The film should have been made before Beautiful Hunter, as it is a story of how she became an assassin - a prequel, if you will. It was probably just trading on that film's success. One suspects that it wasn't even released in Japan, as the title is English.The translation was so bad that it really distracted from the story. You were focused on the mismatch of the language instead of the story's progression. Also some of the supporting cast really overacted their parts to the point that they were comical.It was a good story and Kuno is always worth seeing, but it really needs work.
Kind of like other Japanese movies, such as Zero Woman, or the Prisoner Maria. I think it might be trying to be Black Cat (La Femme Nikita), or Naked Killer,but just isn't quite as good. I think it was influenced by the classic Charles Bronson movie, The Mechanic (professional killer makes a friend - or in this case, takes a lover - and then trains him/her to be an assassin). Sugar has a few good moments, and one scene of over the top violence(in which she tortures a gangster to get some information) which is probably worth the price of a rental. It also has a fair bit of nudity and sex, which does help to make it an entertaining film. Some of the subtitles are quite bad, and probably inaccurate. Don't expect the best, and you might enjoy this movie.