After the disappointment of the first Smart 109 film from Zen Pictures, I looked forward to the sequel, Smart 109 Code: 2. While I love Sayoko Ohashi, and really admired her awesome, absurd outfit in the first film, I found it disappointing for all of the missed opportunities. The sequel makes similar mistakes, but is ultimately a better movie than its predecessor, in my opinion. And best of all, there are no Twinkies or light bulbs to be found in this installment.
The film opens with a recap of the previous episodes. I believe you can watch this recap and skip actually downloading the first Smart 109 movie. It’s a nice overview of the first episode, and gives you a glimpse of everything you might have missed. In reality, there’s really no need to see the first episode, or even this recap, to understand and appreciate the events of the second film, but it’s here nevertheless.
After a James Bond-inspired opening credits sequence, the film begins, with the lovely Ohashi undercover (I guess) in the bad guys’ hideout. She wears a nice Asian-style dress and, of course, looks great. With her boyfriend tagging along, she meets a gang of henchmen and does battle with them. By now, Ohashi has changed into her Smart109 outfit, which is not quite as sexy as her outfit from the previous film. In the original, Ohashi wore a very revealing Aeon Flux-inspired design, but here, she’s basically dressed from head to toe in black leather. I’m not complaining at all, but I do find the original outfit a little superior to this one. (Ohashi is hot as hell regardless).
Ohashi takes out all the bad guys in typical Zen Pictures fashion, at one point throwing a knife into a bad guy’s skull.
A lot of stuff happens that I don’t understand because I don’t speak Japanese. It involves (I think) a double cross on the part of the boyfriend, an electrically supercharged mutant wearing army fatigues, and an escape attempt by Ohashi.
The bad guys apprehend Ohashi and suspend her by her wrists in a dark torture chamber. She is whipped with a chain (which sounds exactly like a leather whip) and then beaten by her torturer. This is a much better torture scene than anything from the original Smart 109 film, even though Ohashi’s costume isn’t nearly as revealing. This is also the best scene in either film. Ohashi is good at reacting to punches, and this is a very good scene, if not perfect.
Then the bad guys tie Ohashi to a chair and torture her with a blowtorch. I didn’t really care for this, but to some people out there, it might be a really good scene.
Our heroine breaks free and has yet another fight scene with her female nemesis from the first film played by Toko Hatori. This time, the tables are turned and Ohashi quite easily overpowers her enemy.
The movie ends a few minutes later with Ohashi making her escape. I have no idea what her mission actually was, but I’m pretty sure she accomplished it. Or not. Does it really matter? I give Smart 109 Code: 2 a B-.