Bullet Points: Return of the Street Fighter
My favorite Christmas present this past year was The Street Fighter Collection. A trilogy of movies starring Shin’ichi Chiba aka Sonny Chiba. It is a real cool Blu-ray set with all the movies in their original Japanese audio, or the English dub. All the movies are as uncut as they’re going to get. So you get to see all the fun parts as uncensored as they’ve ever been. Since Bulletproof Action already has an awesome review of the first film, The Street Fighter, I figured why not review the sequel,
Return of the Street Fighter, and see if it is worth your time.
- Perhaps, a controversial opinion: Not all sequels can be on the level as Terminator 2 or Aliens. However, it is my opinion Return of the Street Fighter is a more polished movie than the original. There’s not as much gore, but Sonny Chiba’s Tsurugi is a much more likable character. He’s not the savage he is in the original. He’s not selling women into sex slavery, or throwing people off buildings for failure to pay their debt. Sonny is way more laid back in Return, yet he still finds time to fuck bad guys up. Am I the only one, or do others feel the same? Let me know in the comments, or hit me up on Twitter.
- Good Guy Karate: The actual plot in Return is hilarious. The good karate master thinks one of the karate houses is being funded by the yakuza. Sonny works for the made guy under investigation by the other karate houses. He has no problem killing yakuza accountants who are about to snitch. However, when asked to kill the good karate man, he draws the line, and goes to war against his former boss, and the yakuza goons. A huge shoutout to Masafumi Suzuki’s Kendo Masaoka. He’s the good karate guy, and it looks like he’s a real life badass, since he is the martial arts director in all the films. Plus, I don’t know many movies that have weapon montages with all the karate weapons used in the film. I thought it was badass. Especially, since a lot of the weapons are used to try and kill Sonny.
- Magic hands: I’m pretty sure Sonny’s character has some kinda special magic powers. The way he uses his fingers to make sure one of the accountants never speaks again is pure cinematic gold. Sonny is the real deal. He uses his hands and his breathing skills to showoff his full-on karate talent. He can punch and kick like a boss. He’s not Bruce Lee, but he’s not supposed to be. He came around at the right time. When the Kung fu boom was in full bloom. He’s his own person, whose films are begging for you to watch.
- Voice Box Man & the Hippie: No, this isn’t the cousins of Hootie & the Blowfish, but these are the main bad guys. Voice Box Man comes out of nowhere, because he was in the 1st film, and he didn’t need a voice box. That’s one reason you need to watch the original. The movie does flashback to the original, and the scenes are in black & white, so you as the viewer, don’t get confused. He’s a great choice for an elite henchman for the Hippie. Yes, the yakuza mob boss is a fuckin’ hippie. You can’t make this stuff up.
I just wanted to say that before I get to the Bonus Bullet Points. I had a blast with Return of the Street Fighter, and I can’t think of a better way to close the review…
- Jumpman: Move over Michael Jordan, Sonny knows how to leap. The way he leaps from his motorcycle to jump a fence is damn awesome.
- Eye See You: In the snow, your eyes might pop out. If this excites you, then Return of the Street Fighter is a movie for you.
- Sidekicks suck: You have a better chance winning a match as a jobber vs. King Kong Bundy than you do surviving a Street Fighter movie as Sonny’s sidekick. You’re doomed!
- Uncorked: What’s the best way to uncork a bottle of liquor? Use your fuckin’ teeth like Sonny. The hell with the dentist!
