Top Fighter

A Japanese cop, Shiro (Sho Kosugi), and his partner Ray are after a bunch of drug dealers. But they are betrayed by an insider and Ray is killed. Shiro follows the murderer, a sadistic drug lord, up to Singapore.

This is director Gordon Hessler's follow-up to "Pray for Death" (1985), also starring Sho Kosugi. The general consensus seems to be that the best Hessler-Kosugi team-up was "Pray for Death", but I respectfully disagree. I feel they stepped it up a notch or two for "Rage of Honor", and I really appreciate the James Bond-as-a-ninja theme.

Some people may take issue with Hessler's direction. Cool A** Cinema notes, "Unfortunately, the action sequences suffer the same fate as most American martial arts pictures of the day. There's very few master shots and far too many close ups." That point is well taken, but for those looking for an action film rather than a martial arts film, this may not be easily noticeable. No one should be expecting Bruce Lee.

The Arrow Video blu-ray is not packed with extras, but is far from bare bones and does include a brand new interview with star Sho Kosugi on "Rage of Honor" and the later stages of his film career. We also have an interview with Stelvio Cipriani, the film's composer. The first pressing includes a collector s booklet featuring new writing on the film and an extract from Kosugi's upcoming book. And, of course, you are getting the film in high definition, looking far crisper and cleaner than we ever got in the glory days of VHS -- you can actually see the individual drops of splashing water.

I must admit that I wasn't harboring much of any grant expectations to this 1987 martial arts action movie. But still, I opted to watch it, as I grew up with movies like this, but oddly enough I actually never had seen "Rage of Honor" before now late in 2022.

Writers Robert Short and Wallace C. Bennett managed to deliver everything stereotypical for a late 1980s martial arts action movie. You have Shô Kosugi in the leading role, playing a police officer that quits his job in order to go on a vigilante murderous rampage in Buenos Aires.

Yeah, there were a lot of things wrong with the storyline here, if you take a step back and look at it with a pair of realism goggles. I mean, for starters, a police officer that quits his job to go on a murderous rampage in a foreign country. How messed up is that? But, hey it is a movie, and is does make for some good old fashioned cheesy 1980s martial art entertainment. And then there were Japanese ninjas for some reason in Buenos Aires. Sure, why not?

The acting performances in "Rage of Honor" were as to be expected from a late 1980s martial arts action movie. But at least you know what you get with a guy such as Shô Kosugi, right?

There is a good amount of action and martial arts in the movie, some of it good, some of it dubious.

If you enjoy the 1980s martial arts movies, then "Rage of Honor" is definitely a movie that you will enjoy. And I think I would have enjoyed that way more back in 1987, when I was 12 years old, more than I did today in 2022 as a 47 year old.

My rating of director Gordon Hessler's 1987 "Rage of Honor" lands on a five out of ten stars.

Sho Kosugi re-teamed with PRAY FOR DEATH (1985) director Gordon Hessler for this international action flick. Shiro (Kosugi) is a Drug Investigation Bureau (D.I.B.?) agent who seeks revenge after his partner is murdered by drug-lord Havelock (Lewis Van Bergen). He quits the force and flies to Buenos Aires to get his revenge. Oh, I'm sorry, he rages his honor. Shiro is apparently not the smartest cookie as he brings his girlfriend along and she is quickly kidnapped, resulting in a huge chase through the jungles of Argentina. This was Kosugi trying to expand his screen image a bit, resulting in a character that is sort of like James Bond with some ninja tendencies. He doesn't have Bond's instincts though. For example, the "good guys" send a chopper to pick him up and 6 deadly ninjas pop out to kill him. Shiro dispatches of them, yet still follows the instructions of the "good guys" to "take the disc to the abandoned factory" (how he knew which factory is beyond me). The action is very well staged by Hessler, who gives the production a really big budget look. The last half hour is pretty much fighting and shootouts non-stop. The MGM DVD I have have (part of a ninja 3-pack with American NINJA and REVENGE OF THE NINJA) is frustrating in that it starts the film widescreen for the credits and then jumps to 1.85 for the movie. But at least it is better than the full frame single edition release MGM previously put out.

This movie is very 80s. It has agents, ninjas, military, evil druglords, jungle tribes... it reminded me of every action movie from James Bond to Rambo to American Ninja.

It also has bad acting, uninteresting characters and somehow boring flow of story. I can't give a really good rating because I felt a bit bored most of the time. But when the action starts, then it gets good. The action scenes may not be the best possible quality but they have certain coolness, with nice stunts, crazy ninja weapons, and enough explosions. I also liked hard rock/synthwave kind of music which seals the very 80s feel.

So, this is not a movie you watch for the story, but if you have a soft spot for 80s' action movies it has a decent dose of that ridiculousness you probably yearn for.

Boisterously unleashed not too long after after the explosive wake from Ninja extravaganza 'Pray For Death' had barely subsided, solid action director Hessler renewed his historically successful collaboration with iconic 80s martial arts sensation Shô Kosugi whose steely gaze, natty Ninja threads, fleet-fisted fighting style, and deadly Shuriken-slinging expertise had Iron-fistedly galvanized the global Ninja craze, and in his bruisingly action-packed B-Movie Bond 'Rage of Honor',Katana-cool, Icepick-deadly, Buddha righteous, thug trashing cop Shiro Tanaka (Sho Kosugi) is darkly embroiled in the murderous machinations of sadistic drug kingpin Havlock (Lewis Van Bergen), with his partner dead, girlfriend kidnapped, capable writers Robert Short, Wallace Bennett, and no less competent film-maker Hessler robustly construct a rewardingly blood-thirsty arena for our Teflon-toed, panther-quick, gravity-dodging, gangster-goring avenger Kosugi to righteously revenge his fallen partner, and free his bound lady love from the nefarious clutches of his merciless foe, whose diabolically extended reach stretches poisonously from the sweetly sublime vistas of Singapore to the harsh, mercenary-infested jungles of South America! With plentiful, excitingly choreographed fight scenes, and blazingly balletic gun battles, 'Rage of Honor' has all the requisite blood-pumping, head-knockingly heroic hallmarks of a Shô Kosugi vengeance-fuelled VHS-era classic!