COMMENTS
I liked this film, but I felt there was something missing in it, which is why I gave it a 6-rating. I guess I was expecting maybe a little more or something. Oh well.

The film is kind of like an updated version of Stephen King's Firestarter, only with better graphics and more than one person with powers. The main character has the power of pyrokinesis, but later on in the film we meet up with two more characters with similar powers. One guy has the power to control peoples minds with a touch of his hand and a young girl has similar powers to the main character.

Towards the end of the movie we get to see a nice battle between the three, with the guy controlling the young girl. The effects in this movie were amazing. The way they used the fire was very appealing to the eye and I just wished they used more of it. Some of the deaths by fire looked wicked painful.

The directing was good, since most japanese horror directors are good at what they do, and the acting was also well done. The plot is simple - A young woman, who has been outcasted throughout most of her life, meets up with a guy and his younger sister. They grow a special bond quickly in the beginning of the film, but it later breaks when the sister gets murdered by local teen killers. The young woman then gets revenge by taking out those who killed the man's young sister.

The cops are later called in to investigate and eventually learn about the woman and her powers. Towards the end of the movie you get to see a nice stand off between the woman and a bunch of cops and snipers. Was pretty exciting.

The only reason why I didn't really give the movie a higher rating, was I guess I was expecting too much from it and was kind of let down. I also thought some of the movie was a little slow. Other than that it was rather good.

OVERALL
A nice update on Stephen King's Firestarter. I expected too much from it, so was let down a bit at the end. Still not a bad film. Had a lot of good effects.

Junko, a 20-year old girl, can set people on fire just by thinking about it. Seeing this power as a curse rather than a blessing, she shuns the company of others for fear of "losing it" and unwillingly causing harm. She starts to come out of her shell after meeting a man named Tada and his kid sister Yukie. Alas, sweet 16-year old Yukie falls prey to a group of sadistic teenagers who make snuff films for fun and profit, and Junko's murderous impulses fight their way out of suppression.

Sounds like it's got the letter "B" written all over it, right? Well, the temptation to dismiss this as an exploitation film targeted at gore freaks and cult types is a strong one, but it's actually very solid and polished. It draws inspiration from a variety of geek-friendly sources both foreign (Unbreakable and The Matrix spring to mind, thanks in part to the bullet-freezing bit) and domestic (such as Akira and the Ring trilogy, especially Ring 0), but its scope reaches farther than the basic premise would indicate, and it's all handled with a restrained, disciplined stylization. The special effects are pretty good for the most part, but there is one particular scene where it's painfully obvious that a mannequin was set ablaze rather than a computer image or a stuntman. (That can be Ringo Lam's next project: Dummy On Fire.)

Junko is eventually made aware of an underground vigilante organization of "Espies" (an "Espy" being an individual with some sort of psychic power; past Espies include such illustrious figures as Jesus Christ and Mohammed) called The Guardians who unhesitatingly punish those who escape the legal system. The Guardians are, naturally, eager to ally themselves with a woman who can reduce people to little piles of ash by simply willing it to happen (and isn't bad looking into the bargain)...but her suspicion of their true colors and her inherently gentle nature hamper their plans. Following the trail of incinerated scum are a pair of detectives. The male is a firm believer in the supernatural; the female is more down-to-earth and skeptical. I can't recall their names just now, so let's just give them a couple of substitute names. Hmmm...how about "Mulder" and "Scully"? Yeah, those'll do nicely.

The tension runs deeper and the suspense grows thicker as the stew into which Junko, Tada, Mulder, and Scully have been stirred is brought to a boil by a villainous mastermind and other Espies wreak havoc with their own powers; the film's finale has perhaps one false climax too many but wraps things up in a pretty satisfactory manner.

Give this a try if you're still lamenting the death of The X-Files.