Roy Hart
If you're interested in the topic at hand, you should just watch it and judge yourself because the reviews have gone very biased by people that didn't even watch it and just hate (or love) the creator. I liked it, it was well written, narrated, and directed and it was about a topic that interests me.
Tyreece Hulme
One of the best movies of the year! Incredible from the beginning to the end.
Quiet Muffin
This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.
MartinHafer
Regardless of whether or not you love this genre, purely from a technical standpoint, I cannot understand those people who gave this movie ratings of 9 or 10. What were they thinking?! There are many "guilty pleasure" films I love to watch and are fun, but I could never score them that highly because of these technical problems. Oh, well.If you are a die-hard lover of kung-fu films, then all the problems I mention about this film are pretty irrelevant--you will like the film. It's got all the action you are looking for and all the usual clichés you love and expect. However, for the average viewer, this is a very problematic movie to watch. The biggest problem is the horrendous quality of the DVD. I found it as part of a 9 movie set entitled "Samurai Collection" by St. Clair Video. ALL the movies in the set were grainy and washed-out and most appeared to come from old 1980 era videotapes that had degraded significantly. Of the ones I have so far watched from the set, this is by far the worst quality. It really looks as if someone sat in the theater with a video camera and recorded the film and then they put it in the set. This actually could be the case and since it appears to be a public domain video, there's nothing that can be done about this. In addition, almost none of the movies had anything to due with the samurai (i.e., a Japanese knight) but were kung-fu movies (or some other martial art film).The beginning of the film is pretty cool, as an evil guy who wants to be named the sensei of a dojo decides to kill his rival to guarantee he gets the job. He enlists the help of some amazing karate experts to kick the innocent man's butt. This is a tad gross, though, so be prepared--you get some pretty amazing eye gouging out scenes so beware!! Oddly, at the end of the fight, instead of killing the man, they let him leave to live in America with his young daughter. There, he trains his daughter as a killing machine so she can return to Japan and seek revenge (duh--you NEVER let them or their kids escape--what was this villain thinking?!). Oddly, although the subtitles say they were living in New York, later they refer to it as Los Angeles.Once the father dies, the daughter returns and seeks justice. It's interesting to see a lady karate expert but it's also weird to see the film is named after Sonny Chiba in the Western release of the movie. He was a major player in the second half of the film, but I really think they were just trying to capitalize on his name--the movie really does star the young female karate master. Originally, there MIGHT have been more scenes with Chiba, but on the DVD, many of the earlier scenes appear to have been edited out with a Ginsu knife! Although the killing machine lady's back story is clear, Chiba's is a choppy mess! Much of the ineptness of this film may not be the fault of the Japanese crew that made the film but the stupid Westerners who dubbed and edited the film. It's really bad and I wish Chiba would kick their butts for doing this!The end of the film is about what you'd expect--with all the usual clichés and intense sound effects. The problem for me was that the movie wasn't particularly good. If it were campier (like MASTER OF THE FLYING GUILLOTINE) I would have loved it more. Or, if the action had been better (like most Jackie Chan films), I would have enjoyed myself. Instead, there were few surprises and nothing to distinguish this dull film within the genre. My advice is see one of the films I just mentioned or a Bruce Lee film--they are simply better.
wanderingstar
To sum this movie up as briefly as possible (it does not need elaboration)... karate master (Sonny Chiba) is crippled by evil assailants, then trains daughter (Sue Shiomi) in the art of karate, mindless vengeance and coldhearted blood-letting. (I don't know, I would have encouraged her into dentistry or some other respectable profession, but that's just me) There are some good choreographed moves, and Shiomi, like Chiba, displays a penchant for not only kicking an opponent's ass but making a point of crushing her opponent's bones and internal organs afterwards.In a lot of the fights though, the techniques are obscured by bad and changing camera angles.Overall, not that great. You are only going to want to see this if you are a Sonny Chiba fan.
mwidunn
I saw this for sale at my local grocery store as one of the movies on a two-movie DVD sold for $1. Couldn't beat that! As I have found with some Kung Fu films, the movie begins with absolutely no explanation: just two guys in a church (?) arguing over who will be chosen as the next leader of the local Karate school. Of course, Evil Guy brings along some thugs to settle the question and solidify his position. Good Guy, for some reason, brings along his little girl.Anyways, Good Guy is irreparably crippled, and slinks off to New York City . . . or, to Los Angeles. (The film shows New York; but, later someone says he went to L.A. Gotta love these films!) Father beats his hatred and desire for vengeance into Little Girl, who turns into a stunningly beautiful Etsuko Shihomi, who is credited here as SUE SHIOMI. IMDb doesn't show this listing for her, though. SONNY CHIBA shows up as a member of Evil Guy's academy, who might have his own reasons for revenge against Evil Guy. Do you think nice-looking Chiba and pretty Shiomi will pull together and fight Evil Guy? Do you "wax off" after waxing on? (R.I.P. Mr. Miagi) I agree that the camera work is quite shaky, and certainly detracts from the fight scenes. Also, there are no "foosh-foosh; fuh-pish, fuh-pish" arm and leg movements like one finds in traditional Chinese Kung Fu. So, that is a difference. However, there are some camera angles and shots that are interesting and nuanced. The editing stinks, thus making some parts incomprehensible.The story is a carbon copy of so many other martial arts films: Girl sets out to avenge her father's disgrace, meets a guy with "a past" who allies with her, and all the Goodies and Baddies meet up for a final battle. If only they had kept it simple: There's something about a Karate tournament at Evil Guy's academy . . . a storyline which is set up in detail and, then, mysteriously goes nowhere, even though Evil Guy goes to great lengths (like, the island Cuba) in order to assassinate his competition. It's almost as if the directors decided, "Let's be done with this!," and threw out the more involved story about the tournament, opting instead to throw in the easier solution of a final "duel" between Chiba/Shiomi and Evil Guy and his thugs.Not the greatest Karate film ever made; but, higher marks for promise.
kattcb
Sonny was the next best thing out there besides Bruce. i've seen this movie back in the 80's, and i loved it. sonny is in the movie enough to make an impact. but the problem is when it came out, it was called Dragon Princess, but when you try to find it, it keeps coming up Dragon Princess but it is actually showing you Sister Street Fighter. this makes it very difficult to find to purchase. etsuko style is sooooo sonny's style. it's sad as her father trains her to take revenge on his life because he knows that he will be killed because of who he is. yes, he is very strick and hard on his daughter, but very protective of her also. a very brutal man you would think the way he is training her, but she loves him. everything that she do in her young life is in preparation for her ultimate challenge in life, her father's revenge.
