Sushi Girl is a decently entertaining combination of a crime thriller and torture film ala Hostel/Saw. The plot concerns the contentious reunion of five criminals more than six years after committing a diamond heist gone wrong. Said reunion is spurred by the release of one of them from prison after spending time in the big house after taking the fall for the heist. Little does he know that the others believe he is hiding the diamonds and will use any means necessary to discover their whereabouts, including increasingly brutal methods of torture. So as the night progresses, the torture worsens as the men combine their interrogation with dinner, served off the body of a naked woman (Cortney Palm, also naked in the Silent Night remake), who lies there unspeaking and unmoving, a silent witness to the sadism occurring around her.

Chief among the film’s more compelling aspects is the performance of one Mark Hamill as Crow, arguably the most cruel of the lot but also the most intelligent. A long way from Luke Skywalker, Hamill is both darkly hilarious and menacing, freely provoking everyone around him without fear because he knows his intelligence intimidates them. As Duke, the de facto leader of the gang, Tony Todd brings his usual combination of quiet intellect and threat in a role that he could probably play in his sleep by now. The other performance of note goes to the one with by far the least amount of dialogue, as Cortney Palm ably conveys her changing emotions (from fear onwards) just through her eyes as her job dictates that she represses facial expression.

The negative aspects of the film include some pacing issues as the limited setting makes the delay in getting to the crux of the film’s plot more noticeable. That said, the plot does offer some unexpected twists to keep you guessing though the final one is kind of predictable in that one kind of goes in to these kinds of films expecting something similar to occur. It’s also disappointing that the likes of Danny Trejo, Michael Biehn, and Jeff Fahey are each in only one scene as more of any one of them is always appreciated.

Still, Sushi Girl gets mucho credit for offering a unique twist on the crime thriller and being the platform by which Mark Hamill gets to show that yes, he is still alive and kicking as an actor.

Grade: B