Score rips off Reservoir Dogs, Hard Target and other action movies and it does it so blatantly it makes me puke from my rectum. It's stupid as hell. It does deserve some credibility for the action as it is bloody and fun but urgh. It is so annoying. Recommended if you like movies that devoid original thought.

The DVD box labels this film as 'the nuclear warhead of Japanese action cinema' and for once I don't think they're far wrong. It's a balls-to-the-wall gangster flick, riffing on dozens of movies that have come previously, that carves a niche for itself thanks to the high fluidity of the filming and the sheer energy present in every frame, all of the time. Those familiar with director Atsushi Muroga's zombie film JUNK will immediately recognise his style here, and indeed the factory setting that acts as the backdrop to much of the film.First things first: this film is intensely derivative. The film most recognisable is RESERVOIR DOGS, but there are also elements of HARD TARGET, NATURAL BORN KILLERS, and many other movies along the way. As such, not many of the plot twists, including the big one at the climax, will come as a surprise, but that doesn't matter: just because a film is derivative doesn't mean it has to be poor. I like many films which closely resemble those that have come before, most notably the DIE HARD clones, and often half the fun comes from spotting which film they're trying to emulate now.Anyway, back to SCORE: this has a blisteringly fast pace, right from the word go. There are more shoot-outs, car chases, fights, and tense stand-offs than in a dozen Hollywood action B-movies, and the furious pacing lasts right up until the end. It's the usual stuff: a bunch of thugs commit a hold up and then arrange to meet in an isolated factory, only to find themselves at the mercy of a double crossing boss, the police force, and even a couple of murderous hitchhikers straight out of an Oliver Stone film. This is gruesome stuff: nobody dies from a single bullet hit, and most people are riddled with gore and holes before they bit the big one. Many of the characters spend the movie plastered in blood and all of the shoot-outs are handled in an intensely stylish way. The highlight – if you can call it that – comes when one thug is shotgunned, the blood spray captured in exquisite slow motion as his body pirouettes through the air.The unknown-to-me cast members all give over the top performances, milking every second of their screen time. The top bad guys are the usual slick types, while lead Hitoshi Ozawa has that Japanese 'stone face' look well mastered. I loved the fight atop the moving truck, as well as the action at the climax which goes way above and beyond. To be honest, I expected this type of film when I sat down to watch a 'Beat' Takeshi box set, only to be slightly disappointed by the mostly tranquil nature of his early films. I like Takeshi, but this is far more entertaining: a riveting B-movie action film that takes cinema to the next level and proves that a low budget can sometimes be a blessing rather than a curse.

Score (1995) is a low budget gem from Japan. A film that aims for a certain crowd and it doesn't disappoint it's audience. A group of lowlife thugs are gathered together by a low level Yakuza boss so they can get their hands on some precious gems. This picture has more turns and twist than and old school crime novel.Caution this movie is very violent. The director showcases some of the biggest blood squibs I have ever seen in a movie. It's tightly edited and moves at a nice pace. The only draw backs are the budget ( at least it was shot on film) and the locations (the movie was filmed in the Phillipines even though it's suppose to take place in the U.S. I highly recommend this film (for the total carnage)

SCORE (1995) is a derivative Japanese crime film, borrowing liberally from, among others, HARD-BOILED, HARD TARGET, RESERVOIR DOGS, TRESPASS, NATURAL BORN KILLERS and THE GETAWAY. It's a fast-paced, violent, old-fashioned (in a good way) caper thriller that makes up for an extremely low budget by fast-cutting, imaginative staging of action, judicious casting, and lots of shootouts, fights, chases, greed, betrayal and frenzied, bloody agony.SCORE is set in the U.S., but was largely shot in the Philippines (the police cars have `Manila's Finest' printed on them). The main character, Chance, looks like a Japanese Quentin Tarantino with his square face and bulldog features, and heads a team of jewel robbers waiting for their payoff in a massive abandoned factory. There is a psychotic highway robber and his crazy female accomplice (straight out of NATURAL BORN KILLERS) who dog the jewel robbers. The male psycho has a fixation on Doc Holliday and the O.K. Corral and insists on referring to the jewel thieves as the Clantons.Despite its budget limitations and blatant rip-offs of so many better films, SCORE boasts the kind of speed, grit, color, and imaginative violent outbursts that used to grace so many of the grade-B crime films that Hollywood (and Hong Kong) used to produce on a regular basis.