Saturday Night’s Alright For Fighting: Return of the Street Fighter
Sonny Chiba returns as Takuma Tsurugi for the orgy of violence that is Return of the Street Fighter. Chiba’s character may not be quite as cold and merciless as he was in the first film but he’s still one mean badass.
The movie ties in directly to its predecessor, with a couple of characters making return appearances, one of which is decidedly unexpected. The frequency of the fights has been upped from the first film, to such an extent that there’s barely enough space between to tell a coherent story. Basically Tsurugi finds himself on the wrong side of the Mafia when he turns down an assassination job and the Mafia don’t take his refusal lightly. Early in the film we see several martial arts masters displaying their mastery of various weapons, from nunchucks to a samurai sword, and you know it’s a safe bet that Tsurugi is going to be facing off against them at some point. Sure enough it’s these men that the Mafia send against him.
Tsurugi takes on many of these weapons masters in a fight in the snow, in which he wears not only his trademark black outfit but also, amusingly, a white woolly hat. The film is packed with memorable confrontations, including one in a massage parlour that allows Chiba to show off his impressive physique while taking on multiple opponents. And, just in case you thought he was going soft, he eliminates a beautiful assassin with cold efficiency…but only after, James Bond style, he samples her ample charms.
The over the top gory deaths are still here, from fingers in the throat to sticking a gun in someone’s gut. The highlight is the back of the head punch that results in the victims eyes popping out of his head cartoon style (you almost expect them to go “boing”).
The final confrontation sees Chiba take on a veritable army of killers. He kicks, punches, stabs, and even shoots his way through them. By the time the credits role they are all maimed or dead and Tsurugi, bruised and battered, sports an evil smile on his face, like he’s just had the best time of his life. My smile wasn’t quite so evil but I’d had a fine old time too.
