Comments
Siskoid
Nobuko Miyamoto is back for another complex case of tax evasion in A Taxing Woman's Return, but she's unfortunately not in it ENOUGH. A lot of screen time is devoted to the villain - a so-called religious leader who finances his real estate schemes with money funneled from his "church" - and her colleagues. This is more about the CASE itself, intriguing as it might be, than the character we quickly came to love in the first film. The whistle-and-drum score isn't as evocative. The exploitation elements meaner and nastier. And if I wasn't sure about the original's ending, this one I don't agree with AT ALL. Very unsatisfying. But ultimately, yes, it does come down to Miyamoto being sidelined. She has some good, even great, moments, but has just been assimilated into a workplace dramedy that doesn't exclusively cater to her. I feel like we needed to see more of her personal life, or build an arc around her getting a new assistant, and so force. And despite it all, I'd have easily jumped on a third chapter, so don't take my disappointment as a total indictment of what is still a pretty fun crime picture.
