Autant en emporte mon nunchaku

Sony Chiba returns as the assassin for hire to take on a whole bunch of new villains. Satsujin Ken 2/The Return of the Streetfighter(1974) continues the adventures of Martial Arts master, Takuma Tsurugi. Begins with an excellent fight with the Police that ends in Tsurugi jumping out a window after silencing a witness for a client. He completes the job by killing off an accountant who betrayed the mob. Not as good as The Streetfighter(1974) and with less of the good/bad persona that made the first film an enjoyable film to watch. The Return of the Streetfighter(1974) is best viewed in its full uncut glory. The arch enemy from the first film returns to continue his quest for vengeance against Tsurugi. There are three outstanding set pieces in the flick. One, the fight against the masters of different Martial arts. Two, Tsurugi against a group of people in a health place. Three, the final battle between Tsurugi and the mob's goons.

Rule #1 of the movie business - If it works, beat it to death. "The Street Fighter" worked so he returned. Back in the 1970s movies with violence could get an "X" rating. If your copy is only about 75 minutes long then you have the censored version. I have read the complete version is 83 minutes but I have also read 90 minutes. The second rule of movies is when making a sequel just do the same stuff over again but this time a bit longer and harder. This movie followed both rules resulting in viewer enjoyment and producer profit. I rate it just a tad above average for the year and genre based on that. I considered deducting a point for the annoying side kick but at least she's cute.

The movie opens with Sonny offered big money to get two guys. He negotiates for double the money. The first guy is in police custody so Sonny gets arrested. He cuts the guy's throat then escapes by defenestration. (The first movie had two defenestrations.) He discusses his second target with his new sidekick, a girl.

What style of martial arts did Sonny Chiba show in his movies? He practiced kyokushin, ninjiutsu, goju-ryo, shorinji kemo, judo, and kendo. Before he started martial arts, Sonny did track and field, baseball, and volleyball in high school. To take this to the next level, on the advice of a coach, he dedicated himself in artistic gymnastics. In his movies his moves seem more reflective of that rather than any martial arts style.

(1975) The Return Of Street Fighter DUBBED MARTIAL ARTS ACTION

The second of three Street Fighter movies from Japan starring karate actor Sonnny Chiba, as he plays Terry paid to kill some people just in case they leaked any information about the syndicate's illegal practices, which has something to do with harassing clients for the construction of buildings. As soon as they ask Terry to kill one of his respected masters, he declines and the syndicate then try to kill him next. Although, this set up has been done many times before, it is only the backdrop to showcase the gory violence Terry and foes inflict on each other. This movie also includes characters from the first movie as well as old enemies.

Sonny Chiba returns as Tsurugi, slightly more well-mannered here as befits a film that is neither as gory or as good as the original. The plot is straightforward - Tsurugi upsets the mafia, they send hordes of goons to kill him, he kicks their asses. The film has plenty of fight scenes that are still intense and brutal, but tones down the level of animal rawness... it does offer us a bit of nudity in exchange, but frankly it's no substitute for a guy getting his genitalia ripped off in a fight.

Still, it is pretty entertaining and the fight scenes are still impressive.

Well, against the ostensible general tide of opinion I must say that I wasn't a particularly huge fan of the original film that this follows. In fact, for me at least, the only saving grace it boasted was in its violent excesses – the majority of which were saved until the final third of its running time. From reading many of the other reviews on this site, it furthermore seems indicative that the exact said graphic violence is the principle reason that most other reviewers have awarded the flick such lofty marks.

Interestingly and conversely, this sequel actually tones down the blood letting somewhat and apparently as a result didn't hold quite as much appeal it would seem. Well, that's what I'm assuming at least.

From my own perspective however, whilst this sequel is indeed bereft of much of the old red stuff a flying, I would say that it actually surpasses the original in pure entertainment value by far. The martial arts sequences are far superior this time around including some rather nifty Kobudo weapons displays throughout. Also Sonny Chiba is on much better form here to – just check out the awesome sequence near the start of the film in which our protagonist allows himself to be taken to a police station in order to silence a witness. He makes his escape by kicking the bars out through the wall and leaping through the subsequent hole from a few stories up!

Another scene of amazing note involves our hero punching some poor chap so hard in the back of the head that his eyeballs literally pop out!!! (some great utilisation of ping-pong balls there!) It's also great to see the return of a supposedly deceased character from the first flick who returns here with the intention of exacting his revenge upon our hero.

To be quite honest, there's only one negative I can think of in this flick and that is the ill advised inclusion of Chiba's 'side-kick' (the first film also suffered the indignity of including one to!) who in this instance is a veritably annoying chick boasting ridiculous looking pig tails and who furthermore, has a rather unfortunate propensity for warbling along to crappy music (badly at that!)

Aside from this minor gripe though, overall, this proves to be a tremendously entertaining affair throughout and is well worth tracking down!