SquigglySwag
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- Joined
- May 18, 2013
Raze - 2013
Director: Josh C. Waller
Ryona rating: 3.5/5 [my opinion]
Plot overview (no major spoilers in text, but images arguably contain spoilers):
The premise of this movie is that 50 or so women have been kidnapped and forced to fight to the death in one-on-one fist fights, tournament-style. They are told that the winner will be released, and their family will be spared, while the families of all the losers will be killed.
Sounds like it could be a ryona lover's dream film, right?
Well, in my opinion, it kind of is. But it depends on your preferences, and your tolerance for "realistic" violence.
The film maintains a fairly serious tone throughout, and some viewers may find themselves empathizing with the characters too much to "enjoy" the violence.
I wouldn't say the violence in Raze is particularly fetishized, but I also wouldn't call it disturbingly realistic. There's action-movie sounds from punches and kicks, with loud bone-snapping noises and a fair amount of blood at times.
I didn't sit there and count the total number of fights we see, but there are quite a few. We don't get to see all the fighters, but we get short snippets of some of the fights, and I'd say at least 5 or 6 full-blown fights are shown. Each is announced to the audience with a "_____ vs. _____" title card.
The fights themselves are pretty brutal. I'm not usually into live-action ryona, but when I heard about this movie, the premise sounded too good to ignore. If you can stomach the violence and sadness (the women are often crying before, during, and after combat), there's probably something in here for you. Punching, kicking, headbutting, choking, eye-gouging, wall-slamming, neck-breaking... it's all here.
I don't want to talk too much about the plot, in case people don't want the story spoiled for them. I'll say that overall, I found it pretty entertaining, and I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the acting. Many of the women are quite attractive, and there are a few particularly interesting stand-out characters.
Ryona-wise, I think this film delivers in a big way. Certainly more ryona content than any other movie I've seen or even heard of, and it's just the right amount of brutal (in my opinion). I'm not counting films like Hostel or Saw, which seem more like torture with implements and weapons. I prefer something like this, where it's mostly punches and kicks, and not insane amounts of gore.
If you enjoy live-action woman-on-woman violence, I think this film is definitely worth checking out.
