New
Line Home Video | Review by Dan Taylor
New
Line could be the best friend action film
fans ever had. Their relationship with Jackie
Chan (and the success of RUMBLE
IN THE BRONX) resulted in wide releases
for most of his new and recent films. Second,
they've resurrected the original
version of Sonny Chiba's ultra-violent kung-fu
masterpiece THE STREETFIGHTER and released
it (on video no less!) in a letterboxed
collector's edition that restores the violence
and gore excised for its initial video release.
New Line should also be commended
for the simultaneous video release of RETURN
OF THE STREETFIGHTER, THE
STREETFIGHTER'S LAST REVENGE, and SISTER
STREETFIGHTER. As a bonus, each release
contains original theatrical trailers for
the other installments.
As
they say in the trailer for this epic, "You
beat a man, they call you tough. You beat
an army, they call you...THE STREETFIGHTER!"
Sonny Chiba stars as Terry
Surugy, the baddest kung-fuing bad-ass to
ever set foot on a Times Square silver screen.
He's not a secret agent, a cop or a student
on vacation. He's a mean-ass killer-for-hire
whose ass-kickin' skills are rented to the
highest bidder. And, at the beginning of
THE STREETFIGHTER he's hired to break a
"mean bastard from Okinawa" out
of prison on the day of his execution. Of
course, Chiba's plan involves beating the
guy to near-death in his cell so that he
collapses on the gallows and has to be transported
to a hospital. Hey, I don't think planning
is his strongest suit...
After this splendid introduction
and a battle with the brother and sister
of the aforementioned convict, Surugy enters
into a one-man war against some bad-ass
wannabes that try to kill him. Surugy takes
this affront poorly and decides that his
goal in life is to wipe up the floor with
the double-crossing scum that he didn't
wish to work with.
Don't think for a minute that
Chiba's character lacks a code. He believes
in trust, but he also believes in a good
skull-crushin' to cure what ails ya. He
likes chicks, but he's not above slappin'
one around if she gets in his way. And,
you have to admire the tenacity of a guy
that's been shot in the leg and stabbed
in the chest to keep the faith and see the
fight through to the end. (In its own way,
THE STREETFIGHTER is an interesting parallel
to the 1992 campaign of Bill Clinton)
It's
easy to see why the gore-laden version of
this masterpiece has been unavailable for
so long. In the course of the 90 minute
running time there's more head-poppin',
skull-crackin', eye-gougin', throat-rippin',
groin-tearin' blood-soaked fun than a hundred
other kung-fu films. Sure, you might have
the obligatory vengeance for family honor
plotline, but what other chop-sockey outing
had the balls to show an X-ray as our anti-hero
compresses the skull of an oily villain?
THE STREETFIGHTER is worth
the price of admission if only to watch
Chiba's facial contortions as he preps to
turn another bad guy into just so much (flowing)
blood and (pulverized) bone. Imagine the
bastard offspring of Chow Yun Fat and John
Saxon in desperate need of a laxative.
