Fest Track On Sirk TV Film Review: CAUTION HAZARDOUS WIFE [Fantasia Film Festival 2021 - Virtual]

The married couple spy genre has been done in various forms, most egregiously in "Mr. & Mr. Smith" which understood its particulars especially in regards to both comedy and action. Other films have tried to varying degrees of success which can alternate between bad and good depending on story and, most specifically, chemistry. "Caution Hazardous Wife" works in various points but, of course, its guilt and blame game is skewed. It mixes real world issues (resource drilling on natural land) with a plant operation which also involves a former female assassin who now has amnesia. We are not given much of her backstory or whose side she is really on.

While the film does examine the nature of want and content in the subconscious, the idea is dated though maybe still prevalent in Japan. The film has a good heart and the action when it is done is warranted (though one scene seems plucked right out of "Smith"). The idyllic setting and empathy of the male character is understandable but a little far-fetched and in the reverse, the aspect and reveal of the assassin and the nature of what her memory really is is vague. A side story about a vigilante with an interesting construct in identity is meant to be inclusive but the reasoning in the why is fairly flawed. The ending sequence is interesting though sort of "Die Hard" in its execution. The main problem of "Caution Hazardous Wife" is that the stakes seem skewed and never quite hit square. C

By Tim Wassberg