Holy hotpants --- it's women killing women!!! Line up, perverts, for Josh Waller's RAZE

Hey -- it's The Most Dangerous Game all over again! Only this time, in RAZE, it's being played by the gals -- with the guys actually in control of the ladies, of course. Imagine this: An organization of the very wealthy kidnaps a bunch of women, imprisons them and forces them to fight each other to the death until only one survives. Why would the women agree to this? Because, if they don't, those nasty bad-guys will not only kill them but their daughters/mothers/ husbands/or some other much-loved-target. These "death matches" are of course viewed by an audience of the very wealthy (you can bet they're all Republicans) for their delectation and entertainment. Oh, yes -- and we viewers might just possibly be entertained by all this, too, right?
God, no -- perish the thought!

I feel I must quote here from the press kit for Josh Waller's new film -- the filmmaker is pictured at left -- in which Mr. Waller tells us that, although his movie "could have easily gone the way of exploitation," (I'll give you a moment to pick yourself up off the floor and stop laughing) "we decided to take a much more elevated approach to it." Right. Sometimes the camera looks at all the violence from up above.

Further thoughts: "...some of my influences aren't necessarily references to horror or action films, but more the films of Stanley Kubrick, Kinji Fukasaku, and more recently, Quentin Tarantino."

What, no Ozu? By the way, Mr. Waller: Both Kukasaku (who did Battle Royale) and Tarantino could easily be described as horror or action filmmakers, too, with nary a nose, I suspect, being put out of joint.

Well, then: We now know that watching Raze -- in which match after match after match has one women brutally killing another -- is not exploitative. I am so relieved. What is it, then? A kind of confined-space movie, a variation on the women-in-prison film, a martial arts extravaganza, a thriller of sorts, and -- if you were being particularly obtuse, you might even call it feminist.

My daughter, who attended the press screening with me and knows a thing or two about martial arts, says that the movie definitely gets its moves right. So this, along with some fancy and fast editing, makes the fight scenes look real (though in the still, shown at right, the muscles look a little limp to be actually engaged in struggle). A nod is given early on to how these women ended up where they are, and we get a cursory look at their captors, the man and woman (Doug Jones and Sherilyn Fenn, below) who head this creepy and uber-entitled group, as well as at the male guards who keep our ladies in line.

As to the characterization of these poor women themselves, we're mostly given the standard cliff notes versions: They come in varieties of hard, sweet, nasty, nice and naive -- and all, eventually, dead. Except maybe that final contestant. But since we're dealing here with people in charge who haven't the foggiest notion of morality, justice, right, wrong, good, bad, or any fashion sense (they must be Republicans), we pretty much realize that this is not going to end well.

The cast is led by New Zealand gymnast/martial artist/stuntwoman Zoë Bell, shown above and below, who has yet to add actress to her credentials. She's not bad (and she certainly executes her moves with consummate skill) but she mostly keep a single expression going throughout the film.

Also in the cast are Rachel Nichols (shown below), Tracie Thoms and Rebecca Marshall (shown at bottom), along with Bruce Thomas as the guard you love to hate the most. Everyone does the expected, and if there are no surprises, neither are there any screw-ups. We thought we noticed Rosario Dawson in the movie, too (always a good reason to see any film), but her part is so small that if you blink twice in quick succession, you'll miss it.

Raze is such an ugly movie in just about every way that recommending it proves difficult. It's not badly
done so much as revoltingly imagined. This is the Roman Colosseum in microcosm, with the spectacle reduced to simple killing: no lions, gladiators or weapons on view. And since it's all women killing women for the delectation of the "one percent," you can add an extra layer of sleaze and perversion.

The movie's also mostly humor-free, but there is one whoppingly (and intentionally) hilarious

joke toward the finale. Each fight is introduced with a label:  "Jamie vs Teresa" and so forth, until the final one, which should make you laugh out loud.

Raze, from IFC Midnight and lasting 87 relatively lengthy minutes, opens in theaters this Friday, January 10, and will simultaneously be available via VOD. In NYC, look for it at the IFC Center; in L.A. it will play the Sundance Sunset Cinemas. To see all currently scheduled playdates, click here.

Kirby Dick's doc THE INVISIBLE WAR--about rape in and by our military--could turn you into an angry, determined activist

You don't have to be a woman, a feminist or anti-military to have the content of Kirby Dick's new documentary, THE INVISIBLE WAR, knock you for a loop. I suspect the only requirements might be that you are neither a narcissist nor a rapist. By content, I do not mean the rapes themselves. We get no re-enactments here, and as horrible an experience as a rape must be (in one case, the physical abuse preceding it has left the woman with permanent face, neck and head injuries), the event itself pales in comparison with the disgusting, immoral and unjust treatment these women -- and, yes, raped men -- have received time and again at the hands of the U.S. Military.

It is this "abuse" from the military that makes Mr. Dick's film such a stunner (the director is shown at right), and one that is bound to raise the ire of -- not just viewers but the military itself. At this point in time there have been plenty of other documen-taries about how our military has betrayed American servicemen (and women) in every manner -- from not supplying then with proper protection during our most recent (and either unnecessary or poorly handled) misad-ventures in the middle east to not providing returning vets with the help and care they need. Now comes this latest and surprisingly quiet but nonetheless sca-thing indictment that should bring to mind that ever-green truism that military justice is to justice what military music is to music.

Dick has organized his film so that, as we get the individual stories of these women (and one man) and their rapes, we also learn a short history of women in the military, the statistics on rape, and in particular some interesting material on rapists themselves, their modus operandi -- and why the military is such a target-rich environment for sexual predators.

As Dick takes us back to the Tailhook and other military scandals, it is difficult not to see how similar all this is to sex abuse scandals that have plagued for decades (and continue to pop up with alarming regularity) The Catholic Church, as well as educational institutions (the Sandusky case now playing out on national TV). Power congregates, then corrupts, and then abuses. And it never takes well to underlings pointing this out.

As these women's and one man's (shown at right) stories are told, you'll be struck again and again with how difficult it must have been to relive all this -- and then to lay it out in public. "When the tests and report came back, I had trichinosis and gonorrhea and I was pregnant," one woman tells us. "But as bad as it was being raped, as bad or worse was the reaction of the military to the report."  As case after case is turned a blind eye by the military, your blood pressure will increase accordingly. And one of the insurmountable problems these women encounter is that, in many cases, the rapist is a friend of the officer to whom they must report -- or worse, that officer himself.

As we're told by the women and the lawyers who are working for them, when rape happens in the non-military world, one goes to the police -- who usually have no vested interest in the case -- and it is handled. In the military, there is always vested interested, and it is in the military's best interests that the case simply go away. This is why there is now a movement afoot to change the rules so that the military is not allowed to try these cases.

In one of the saddest scenes in the film, in a restaurant, one of the rape victims encounters a female restaurant worker about to join the military. She cautions her against it, but is met with the expected resistance. Our ex-soldier can't possibly, in the few seconds of time remaining, tell the girl the whole truth of why she is so concerned, and the scene takes on a terrible poignancy and sadness. After you've seen this film, you'll want to caution every young man and woman you know to think again before committing to American military service -- in which recruits both male and female remain, as ever, nothing more than cannon fodder in battles abroad, and increasingly, at home.

After playing the current Human Rights Watch Film Festival, The Invisible War will open this Friday, June 22, in New York City, Los Angeles, San Francisco and DC, and then spread elsewhere across the country in the weeks to come. To see all currently scheduled playdates, with cities and theaters, click here.

The "girl" is back: Stieg Larsson's Dragon Tattoo follow-up PLAYS WITH FIRE

You want more of Lisbeth Salander? Judging by the USA box-office take from the first film in this continuing series -- approaching $12 million, making it by far the most successful foreign-language film of the year -- you do. So head out to your art multiplex this Friday and settle in for another relatively wild ride as Lisbeth tackles... relatives and other problematic people.

THE GIRL WHO PLAYED WITH FIRE, number two in the trilogy that is now rumored to be a quartet, has a different director from that of its predecessor, and the difference, while immediately apparent, is not necessarily for the worse.  Director Daniel Alfredson (pictured at left), the new boy on the block, has worked more in Swedish televi-
sion, and this shows. "Fire" looks, sounds (except for the foreign language, of course) and feels like something that you might stumble upon while surfing cable television and -- if that stumble occurred at the show's beginning -- that you would watch, entran-
ced by its bizarre plot and fine acting, right through to the end.
(The screenplay this time is by Swedish TV writer Jonas Frykberg.)

In fact, I enjoyed "Fire" a bit more than "Tattoo," if only because it is finally less florid (don't worry: it's florid enough, but no serial killers or Neo-Nazis in the closet) and more legitimately down-and-dirty.  It remains, as is Tattoo,  mystery-moviemaking-by-the-numbers -- as practically every mainstream hit of this sort must be. There are plenty of coincidences and last-minute "saves."  Fire is shorter, too: only 129 minutes to Tattoo's 152.

That said, there's not a whole lot more than needs detailing without spoiling things.  We continue to learn of Lisbeth's history from this film, and it's as grim as you'd imagine.  (You don't grow up to be a character like this without a closet full of ugly skeletons.)  Noomi Rapace (above) once again plays Lisbeth, and she's even more pivotal to this film's success because co-star Michael Nyqvist (below) is less seen, and so their relationship appears to be on hold.  Lena Endre (whom I mis-labeled in my post on the earlier film), Yasmine Garbi  and Peter Andersson (as the indelibly nasty Nils Bjurman) are on hand for an encore, now joined by Scandinavian stalwart Per Oscarsson -- who, via his thoughtful, quiet appearances, rolls out a ton of exposition. The most memorable cast member, though, may be the beefy, burly blond shown at bottom, played by Micke Spreitz, whose identity and character gimmick both prove interesting.

Whatever critics say, fans are likely to turn out in droves, though they may be somewhat disappointed at this less-glossy follow-up: shorter, grittier, and with an aspect ratio of only 1.85: 1, as opposed to Dragon's widescreen 2.35: 1.  But since it's Lisbeth they love, they'll hang on -- and probably beg for more. (Which they'll get: The third part of the trilogy is on tap for this coming October.)

The Girl Who Played With Fire, from Music Box Films, opens Friday, July 9, beginning one of the largest "limited" runs of a foreign-language film all year.  By the end of August it will appear in more than 100 theaters in over 50 towns and cities.  Click here (and then click on IN THEATERS) to learn if, when and where the film will be playing near you.