Some movies have titles that tell you exactly what you’re in for, such as Andy Warhol’s notorious “Empire,” an eight-hour film from 1965 that’s just an unchanging view of the Empire State Building in New York.
Another is Toichiro Ruto’s “Violence Action,” based on the eponymous webcomic by Renji Asai and Shin Sawada. Given the high volume of action scenes — from mano-a-mano fights to a lengthy car chase sequence — the film’s action director, Keiya Tabuchi, deserves equal billing to Ruto, whose credits include the 2018-19 TV Asahi show “Ossan’s Love” and its big-screen adaptation.
Actress Kanna Hashimoto is not known as an action star, however, and scenes of her punching, kicking, slashing and blasting opponents as the pink-haired hitwoman Kei Kikuno are like artfully choreographed and stroboscopically edited dance routines. Those hoping for realistic martial arts action had best look elsewhere.