Crime Hunter 3: Killing Bullet
Cinema Forum Groningen
Nieuwe Markt 1, 9712KN Groningen GroningenThe third and final instalment in the series was released within a year of the original. All the familiar elements are present and are executed even more convincingly. Joe once again investigates a shadowy crime syndicate that threatens the life of his colleague (this time female).
Joe returns to his ex-lover Serika, unaware that she is the mistress and puppet of Mexican-Japanese mob boss Nicol (Shimizu Kentaro from Ikeda Toshiharu's Mermaid Legend). Joe's superiors see Serika as a suspect and member of Nicol's gang, so when she disappears, Joe has to call in outsiders to get her back. His sympathetic female colleague Sunny and a former member of Nicol's gang help him in this endeavour.
The third film was largely shot on the island of Guam, to create a more American atmosphere. Actors from the first two films return in different roles, including regular Matano Seiji. This Italian-Japanese actor would become V-Cinema's answer to Sly Stallone. The icing on the cake is the welcome return of Takeuchi Riki, now a V-Cinema superstar in his own right and in a much bigger role than his brief appearance in the first instalment. He even speaks a few lines in English before he and Joe (wearing a bandana, of course) come together for an impressive and explosive finale that surpasses the first two instalments, also in terms of weaponry.