Onna hissatsu ken: Kiki ippatsu

I just stumbled across this movie on cable (under the title "Sister Street Fighter 2," and I believe the above review by Brian Camp relates to a different movie (or, perhaps, the movies are inconsistently titled in English, which often seems to happen in this genre.) I believe the Camp review relates to "3," as the movie I saw contained different plot elements and action settings, and the one review on "3" mentions the same "surgical removal of smuggled diamonds" bit, which does not appear in this film.

In this one, the plot concerns gold smugglers and a crime lord named Oh. Koryu travels from Hong Kong to Yokohama to take down the crime ring and save a little girl's mother (Oh's prisoner, mistress, and chemist, an interesting trifecta.) There's a lot of well-executed action, and Etsuko Shihomi has an appealing screen presence. It's especially well-photographed, and looks great in widescreen. The bad guys have a lot of over-the-top color, from a death match to determine which of a dozen or so strange martial artists from around the world (including one who I think is supposed to be a Zulu spearman) will have the right to kill Koryu (wouldn't it be easier to just send *all* of them after her?) But these movies have their own rules. The white-suited, one-handed, wheelchair-bound Oh is a lot of fun, and a rather transparent imitation of *Enter the Dragon*'s Han. You'll never guess the secret of Oh's fake left hand! Or of his wheelchair (though if you're an SCTV fan, you might be able to make a guess!)

While shopping at an open-air market in Hong Kong, a young woman named "Koryu Lee" (Etsuko Shihomi) notices a man being attacked by a group of thugs. Rushing to help him, she succeeds in chasing them away, but not before the man dies in front of her. Just before he dies, he manages to give her some microfilm and, with his last breath, tells her to take it to a professor she knows. Naturally, she seeks him out and learns that her best friend from high school, "Birei Oh" (Hisako Tanaka), has been kidnapped by the same group, and the only clue points directly to a mansion where the owner, a diamond merchant named "Kazushige Osone" (Hideo Murota), has surrounded himself with numerous martial arts experts for protection. While contemplating that information, Koryu then goes to Tokyo to visit her sister, "Byakuren Lee" (Tomayo Mitsukawa), who works as a diamond cutter for a prestigious jewelry store. Although pleased to see her sister, Byakuren becomes noticeably concerned upon hearing the news about Koryu investigating Birei's kidnapping and quickly informs her that she will be gone for the next few days on business, but offers her apartment for Koryu to stay in while she is gone. That night, Koryu is attacked by Osone's henchmen in what will be a series of further attempts on her life. Now, rather than reveal any more, I will just say that this film pretty much followed the same general plot as its immediate predecessor, with only a few minor details thrown in to make any distinction between the two. For example, instead of her brother being kidnapped, this film focuses on her high school friend instead. That's probably a good thing, considering that her brother was killed at the end of the first movie anyway. Likewise, instead of illegal drugs, the merchandise being smuggled into Japan happens to be diamonds. Small details like that. That said, if I had to choose between these two films, I would probably give this one the benefit of the doubt, if for no other reason than that it has English subtitles instead of the awkward English dubbing used in the first movie. It's a slight improvement, to be sure, but an improvement nonetheless.

Never mess with the Sister (Street Fighter). But I guess bad guys will be bad guys and kidnap people. Everyone thinks they'll get away with it. Not if the Sister has anything to say ... kick about it! I reckon after the first one was so succesful, they thought let's keep this going. In the same year nonetheless.

And you have similar ingredients. Many bad guys, a lot of fights, blood and nudity. Selling points you say? Well who's going to argue with that? I hope nobody, that would be akward. Doesn't mean you personally have to like those things. It's just what a demand there is out there. So much so, that even with obvious mistakes like a very visible arm, that is being cut off, is actually "hidden" under the shirt of one actor. And yes you would have seen it, even if I didn't tell you (likely). This heightens this to a different degree of crazy mental ... and that is what you get. The movie is not confusing anybody or lying about what it is

Koryu (Etsuko Shihomi) flies from Hong Kong to Tokyo in order to rescue a hostage, but the gangster boss keeping that hostage has many skillful fighters. The summary of "Sister Street Fighter"? No, the summary of its sequel, although that reads exactly the same. The second movie copied the first, while the producers carefully kept everything that probably was responsible for its success. A few tiny differences I'd like to sum up: The gangsters smuggle diamonds instead of drugs this time. Etsuko Shihomi wears a much nicer costume in blue and gold (later: red and gold). There is more hand-held camera which can be annoying on the big screen. And there is some additional sadism, for example when the girls who smuggled diamonds under their skin are cut open like cattle by the butcher (no excuses, please - anesthesia were available in 1974), there is a horrifying scene when Koryu's sister is tortured, also when Koryu kills one bad guy by nailing his pair of glasses to his head. Nothing for Sunday afternoon television, I'd say. Anyway, the first movie was better and less predictable. I voted 8/6/8/7 for the 4 "Sister Street Fighter" movies.

Sister Street Fighter: Hanging by a Thread is the second film in the martial arts franchise about the empathic, resilient and tough lead character Li Koryu. This time around, the movie doesn't feature actresses or actors from the Street Fighter franchise that helped kickstart this spinoff series that would turn out being as great or even slightly better than the original series. This entry is the franchise's emancipation and easily proves that versatile actress Etsuko Shihomi can stand her ground all alone.

The story isn't a far call from the first entry but neither this franchise nor Sonny Chiba's Street Fighter films stood for particularly creative plots. Li Koryu is asked to find a former classmate who got kidnapped and is forced to be the mistress of the boss of diamond smugglers who surgically implant the precious stones into the buttocks of Chinese prostitutes. To make matters worse, Li Koryu's own sister is linked to the criminals and forced to betray her sister. Li Koryu however gets assisted by a mysterious stranger who is initially hired as a hitman tasked to kill her but has his own hidden agenda.

The film is on par with its solid predecessor. The story is entertaining, fast-paced and quirky. The fight scenes involve more hand-held camera sections which adds a new touch to the series. The characters are eccentric, memorable and unique. The locations are fascinating as fight scenes take place on a rolling train, in an abandoned stadium and even on logs on the water. It's the most brutal movie in the franchise that involves some graphic scenes that conveniently spice things up from time to time. The funky soundtrack underlines the film's dynamic touch at the pulse of the wild seventies.

This movie is entertaining from start to finish and will appeal to anyone who likes contemporary martial arts films or quirky action thrillers from the seventies. The movie has aged rather well thanks to its charismatic protagonist and modern camera techniques. It's one of the few examples when the sequel is as great as its predecessor.