Rica 2: Lonely Wanderer/Review

From The Grindhouse Cinema Database

< Rica 2: Lonely Wanderer

The second part in the Rica trilogy has, if possible, even less attempt for senseful storyline than before. While that’s not necessarily a bad thing, the film also lacks the wild mix of different genre elements that made its predecessor so damn enjoyable. To make matters worse, Rika Aoki’s charms aren’t used to the fullest. She does wear a couple of kick ass costumes, though.

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The supporting characters are mostly less than memorable. Especially Kazumi Toshi’s character, who would perform one dull song after another, feels like a wasted opportunity. Thankfully Rika Aoki gets on stage as well. At first I didn't find her new song as catchy as the ones she had in the first film, but later I fell in love with this performance as well. The most important male role is played by Ryonosuke Minegishi who does decent job in the role of a mysterious man helping Rica. Hitoshi Takagi and Kaoru Hama are okay as villains but hardly anything special. Surprisingly all the remarkable characters in the film keep their clothes on. The amount of sex and nudity is almost nonexistent.

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After all that rant, is Rica 2 a bad movie? Hell no. It has notably less kick than the original, but it’s still a very decent genre film. It never gets boring, and there’s one scene early on that made me lose count how many ’what-the-fucks’ came out of my mouth. Setting the film in Northern Japan also gives it a nice snowy twist. There’s a bunch of political references too, but nothing too interesting to be honest. The ending is pretty cool, followed by another awesome ending credits sequence. Good fun for genre fans, other may consider skipping.

Reviewed by HungFist

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