The Girl From Rio

Director - Jess Franco (Oasis of the Zombies)
Starring - Shirley Eaton (The Million Eyes of Sumuru), Richard Weyler (The Ugly Ones), and George Sanders (The Jungle Book)
Release Date - 1969
Genre - Action/Adventure'
Format - Bluray (Personal Collection) (Screener)

Rating (out of 5):

     My little retreat from horror continues as I check out the second half of the Sumuru double feature sent to me for review from Blue Underground.  A few nights back I was able to check out the action adventure spy film The Million Eyes of Sumuru.  The film was was surprisingly entertaining and really peaked my interest when it comes to spy films from the late 60s.  The second film in the set, Girl From Rio, was directed by Jess Franco who is often hit or miss with me.  I was excited to see where this tale would take me considering how it ended and I really enjoy Franco's style so I was very excited to check it out.  Sadly, it was a bit of a let down and did not feel like a Franco film.  

     The film follows a secret agent pretending to be a crook with 10 million dollars in his possession.  He lands in Rio and is immediately thrust in the middle of a war between a local crime boss and the all female army lead by Sumuru.  Sumuru then makes her move and grabs the secret agent thinking he has the cash where he quickly reveals that he actually does not have the cash.  She then uses him for her sinister plans only to come face to face with the war that she brought to her very own doorstep.  

     The Million Eyes of Sumuru had a pretty interesting story that honestly kept me watching.  Thought it wasn't nothing groundbreaking it still entertained which is all I ask of any movie.  The Girl from Rio gave us more of the same but with nothing new or different.  This installment could have been skipped entirely.  The acting in this one is more of what we got in the first Sumuru installment.  The cast delivers a solid performance but they are not that memorable and none of the characters stand out.  Even Eaton's performance seems like it was dialed down.  She was the most entertaining aspect of the first film and her character seems like it was almost written out.  The story for this one is more of what we got with the first film following a secret agent who infiltrates Sumuru's all female army to bring them down.  Nothing was done to try and set itself apart from the other film.  If the film would have tried to give us a different story with a little different bit of a twist then the film would have been fun but it wasn't.  Finally, this installment has a lot more action than the first film but it is very repetitive and quickly loses it's momentum.  The film really needed to pace out the action sequences and try to give the viewer something different instead of the same thing over and over.  Overall, The Girl from Rio is a poor sequel and one of the few misses directed from one of the greats, Jess Franco.