Rhea Gall Force (1989) Anime OVA Review

Rhea Gall Force is a 1989 action sci-fi war anime OVA that functions as a continuation of the Gall Force franchise following the events of the original trilogy. The same writer and director team up of Katsuhito Akiyama and Hideki Kakinuma was incharge of it, same animation director and character designer as well, with the voices of Michie Tomizawa, Eriko Hara, Naoko Watanabe, Hiromi Tsuru, Chieko Honda and Naoko Matsui.

Set years after the events of the original trilogy, in the year 2085, WWIII devastated a great portion of the planet and Paranoid technology found by a scientist brought an end to civilization as human guerrilla groups are fighting against the mechanical menaces previously used by humans but that turned on them. Sandy, a young and idealist soldier, meets with other humans in the resistance, such as Score, in order to leave Earth and survive as a species.

The post-apocaliptic arc begins. Everything we knew about Gall Force before isnt really that prominent here. There's no outer space battles, no all-female armies nor do we get a comedic relief or surreal imagery. The story turns into a very familiar plot about humans battling machines after civilization falls and there's only rubble and military resistance groups. I gotta say that this isnt a bad example of this type of fiction but the things that made Gall Force distinctive and original are almost gone.

Having said that, Rhea Gall Force it’s still a very solid OVA since the original team behind the last few entries worked on this one as well and you can tell that they had fun changing things up a bit by having different but well done characters designs, other beautifully illustrated locations and even some excellently storyboarded and directed action sequences in the ground as opposed to the starship fights from before, which is a nice change of pace, as good as those other battles were. A lot more bullet and machine gun action in this one, but it’s far from just being flashy spectacle, especially because the armed conflict still has some severe casualties and some intense moments of loss and death.

The main group is severely cut down and does not have as many interesting characters but the leading pair of heroines carry the OVA. Sandy is pretty much Rabby and Score is practically Lufy but she's good with guns instead of piloting. Their clashes are cute and even if very little time is spent fleshing them out, by the time Score congratulates Sandy after her mission is completed you do get to realize that they do get along after all, specially after sharing moments in combat. Aside from that, most of the characters are almost inconsequential, one-dimensional or empty, barely any of them have a set personality and others can feel stale and generic. This is most likely because of the short runtime and because the group mentality of the others is a major theme that still has resonance here.

The animation is pretty good, the movements of the robotic enemies are as neatly done as you expect from this team and the fluidity of the shootout sequences is appreciated, making things very appealing and smooth. The visuals and the animation are the strong points of this movie as a lot of effort was put into that department. Some corners are cut but it’s overall a very well made OVA.

I can totally recommend it to anyone looking for an action anime with a science fiction flavor to it. You don't even need to watch the other movies to understand the plot of this one since the scenario is so familiar and not much of the previous films is brought back or referenced directly, which is a good choice, making it stand alone for the most part. Fun characters and marvelous action.

The Contract (1999) Movie Review

The Contract is a 1999 action thriller film directed by genre filmmaker K.C. Bascombe, written by him and videogame voice actor and writer Navid Khonsari. It stars Johanna Nicosia, Laurent Imbault, Matthew Olver, Sean Bell, Jon Jordan and Billy Dee Williams. Produced by Wishbone Entertainment Inc. and Cut to the Horse Productions Inc, the film was clearly one of the films in that wave of Nikita-inspired films, comics and TV shows with women assassins in a modern crime environment. 

Hannah (Johanna Nicosia) was raised by her ex-black ops father, Luc, to be an expert assassin. They take hits for hire and execute their targets with much efficiency. An unlikely black republican politician (Dee Williams) who is, realistically, a criminal conspirator plans to tie all the loose ends that can relate him to organized crime and mess with his election chances, so he sends out his goons to murder the father-daughter duo of professional killers, but Luc is the only one that gets killed. Hannah then has to unravel the conspiracy behind her fathers death while having to reveal the truth to her boyfriend.

A satisfying stylish assassin thriller with some visual interest as it has good handheld camerawork and decent production design, even if the environments are a bit dry they do retain that starkness and grimy look a film like this needs. Always fast paced and with technical skills to keep you interested in the derivative drama and executing its action scenes with fluidity and stimulation in awesome choreographies.

The performers do their job very well and Billy Dee Williams is also a highlight. Nicosia is very convincing and likable in her role. While not everyone stands out, you do get to grasp the motivations of every single character and their place in this world, even the goons that are killed off get some decent moments to shine and leave a mark instead of being mechanically dispatched out of the movie as the disposable characters they are.

With solid action sequences and a well known but ultimately decently done storyline, The Contract is an enjoyable and worthwhile Nikita copycat. Recommended for fans of assassin ladies.

Shadow Force (2025) Movie Review

Shadow Force is a 2025 action thriller film directed by Joe Carnahan starring Kerry Washington, Omar Sy, Mark Strong, Da'Vine Joy Randolph, Cliff "Method Man" Smith, Sala Baker and Natalia Reyes. It was written by Carnahan himself and Leon Chills. It's also the first film to be released by the new Lionsgate Studios.

Kyrah (Kerry Washington) and Isaac (Omar Sy) are two ex-special forces group members, one known as Shadow Force, who live peacefully after deserting since they fell in love and decided to leave that life to raise their child, Ky. Assassins are constantly sent after them by their former director/leader Jack Cinder (Mark Strong), but after an incident during a bank robbery both end up on the run as Cinder closes in on them as he assembles the remaining members of the Shadow Force.

The film mostly treads on known territory and displays a very high amount of cliches and stereotypes that one would expect from such a premise (parents who are agents with a kid who is mostly unaware, comedic sidekicks that don't amount to much, one liners and a lot of exposition regarding the organization they work for) but never actually does much with the concept aside from following the expected plot points and narrative devices that action films of this kind often employ. It's decently shot but a lot of its cinematography boils down to functional uninteresting shots with a cold and realistic color scheme that feels mostly bland and uninspired.

It all comes to life in the expected climactic battle that shows some forceful and intense brawlings and shootouts between the mercenaries and killers involved that actually makes it feel a bit more personal and familiar than one would expect. Every punch, kick and blow can definitely be felt as the director has proven to be very competent when it comes to action sequences both choreography-wise and cinematically-wise, there's even a very interesting game between the senses (sound and image) that it's linked to a character's disability that's actually a bit inventive and helps the film stand out a bit.

For the most part, the family conflicts are contrived and reach their peak way too early while the rest develops in a dehydrated and deflated manner that is bogged down by a slow pace and stale visuals. The main heroine is a bit entertaining but you don't get to know her quite well. In many ways, this is the opposite of One Battle After Another in the sense that these are parents with a troubled past trying to escape it (even with the mother dating the bad guy previously) but having it come back to haunt them, this time mom and dad fought for the bad guys unintentionally. 

Only for action movie buffs but not recommended for anyone else.