Kodoku: Meatball Machine (2017)

Kodoku: Meatball Machine: Directed by Yoshihiro Nishimura. With Tomori Abe, Kensuke Ashihara, Satoshi Eishima, Goki. A long-awaited sequel to the internationally acclaimed full-throttle splatter sci-fi action horror “Meatball Machine”.

“Having seen the 2005 u0026quot;Meatball Machineu0026quot; movie, then I wasnu0026#39;t particularly in a hurry to watch the 2017 u0026quot;Kodoku: Mîtobôru Mashinu0026quot; (aka u0026quot;Kodoku: Meatball Machineu0026quot;) movie.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eBut still, being a fan of Asian cinema and having a fondness of gore, I opted to sit down and watch this 2017 movie from director Yoshihiro Nishimura nonetheless. But it wasnu0026#39;t with much of any expectations at heart.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eTurns out that this movie was every bit as odd, bizarre and well silly as the 2005 u0026quot;Meatball Machineu0026quot; movie.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eYeah, a simplistic storyline served with an abundance of blood and gore, and over-the-top creature ideas and pseudo-low budget special effects. Some enjoy this combination tremendously, others donu0026#39;t, and some even just find it to be mediocre.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eI wasnu0026#39;t particularly impressed with this movie, and I found the storyline to be way too stupid and simplistic to offer any real enjoyment. And the characters in the movie werenu0026#39;t exactly fleshed out – pardon the pun – in an overly exciting manner, which resulted in the characters being mundane and pointless.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eHowever, I did enjoy the gore, the grotesque ideas for creature designs and the downright campy, craziness that there was to the movie. But it was hardly sufficient to alleviate for the movieu0026#39;s shortcomings in terms of script and characters.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eI was, however, pleasantly surprised to see Eihi Shiina make an appearance in this movie. But then again, she is no stranger to this particular weird genre of Japanese gore.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eMy rating for this movie is a less than mediocre four out of ten stars. The movie wasnu0026#39;t impressive, nor particularly entertaining or enjoyable. Sure, there were some golden moments here and there, but in general, donu0026#39;t get your hopes up for this one.”