Rage of Honor (1987) review

RAGE OF HONOR 1987

Sho Kosugi (Shiro Tanaka), Lewis Van Bergen (Havlock), Robin Evans (Jennifer), Chip Lucia (Dick), Richard Wiley (Ray)

Directed by Gordon Hessler

The Short Version: Hot off of PRAY FOR DEATH (1985), Sho Kosugi, the Japanese John Wayne of ninja cinema, is back in ninja action against a South American drug lord who has killed his partner and kidnapped his girlfriend. He never dons the familiar ninja regalia, but does wear black 90% of the time. Tons of action, lots of camo ninjas packin' heat, and wacky weapons in what amounts to the most expensive ninja movie Godfrey Ho, Joseph Lai, and Tomas Tang never made.

Shiro, Ray, and Dick are federal agents out to bust Havlock, a South American drug kingpin and martial artist, by any means necessary. After going against protocol and seizing a vast quantity of his heroin aboard a boat, Ray gets careless, ending up captured and tortured to death by Havlock. Shiro swears revenge, quits his job and pursues Havlock only to learn that some of his superiors have a vested interest in the drug business. 

Trans World Entertainment co-produced with Negocios Cinematograficos to fashion their second, and last Sho Kosugi flick. Radically different from the previous years PRAY FOR DEATH (1985), RAGE OF HONOR jettisons the ninja styled Paul Kersey character of that picture to turn Sho into a ninja styled James Bond on this one. The major difference is that Sho never dons the familiar Shinobi attire. He compensates by carrying an assortment of bladed implements tucked away within his clothes that can't hide the fact that Sho is indeed channeling his inner shadow warrior. Kosugi designed the weapons himself, as well as choreographing the action sequences. 

RAGE is a bit of a "family" affair in its cast and crew. Gordon Hessler returns from directing Kosugi in PRAY, and adding cinematographer Julio Bragado (having worked with Hessler on 1984s CALIFORNIA COWBOYS). Hessler, a veteran Fantasy and Horror director in the 60s and 70s, had a similar relationship with Sho Kosugi that J. Lee Thompson had with Charles Bronson. He also directed Kosugi in three of the thirteen episodes of THE MASTER (1984) television series starring Lee Van Cleef. Hessler's last film as director was a Sho Kosugi movie titled JOURNEY TO HONOR (1991).

Going back to Bragado, the photography is one of RAGE's major assets. In the last half, Bragado captures some truly stunning South American locales that greatly enhance the low budget (low for a late 80s actioner). Some of these shots, particularly the waterfalls, add to the production value. It's just one aspect of this movie that displayed the evolution of Sho Kosugi as an Action Hero. Sadly, his career was winding down by this point after enjoying nearly a decade of success.

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. The makers did seem aware of the modern, more edgy style of Hong Kong cinema by throwing in a few crazy shots of Sho (well, his stunt double) flipping in mid-air while firing guns on his targets. The trick of him leaping over a moving vehicle from PRAY FOR DEATH is repeated here, too. The choreo is average at best, but is kept lively by some exaggerated scripting ideas that could have repeated the disaster of 9 DEATHS OF THE NINJA had they been in lesser hands. Much of the martial arts action is upstaged anyways, by a high quotient of explosions and car stunts towards the end when the film goes into Action Hero overdrive mode.

As for RAGE, it's obvious the makers were wishing to go in a different direction. The ninja formula had been replaced by kickboxing flicks, and was all but extinct by the dawn of the 90s. While not a blatant ninja movie, the stealth assassins are definitely present on two different occasions. Sho tangles with ninja in an Argentinian jail; then during the out of control finale, he engages a chopper full of Shinobi decked out in camo and sporting machine guns and flame-throwers! Apparently cognizant of the preponderance of crappy ninjer movies assaulting video store shelves from hack director Godfrey Ho and even hackier producers Joseph Lai and Tomas Tang, Trans World shows them how it's done. 

Aside from his slightly different character, Sho Kosugi is essentially playing himself again. Sho gets to smile a bit more than usual, and, in opposition to his inevitable ninja rage, even gets to show a softer side with his onscreen girlfriend played by Robin Evans. Little is done with this relationship, resulting in no audience investment when Sho must rescue her. The frequent action supplements this lack of characterization (not that there's ever been much in Kosugi's movies to begin with). RAGE OF HONOR does feature some of Sho's most varied action. It was his first time handling a gun in both his life and in the movies.

Lewis Van Bergen is the head psycho and not at all memorable as a villain, at least in this movie. Unlike the sadistic Limehouse Willie (James Booth) of PRAY FOR DEATH, the script tries to pass Havlock (Van Bergen) off as a martial artist. The result is only slightly more believable here than Sho's climactic duel with Limehouse. The editing does well to mask the limitations in the climactic duel, but the action mostly pales in comparison to earlier Kosugi classics like his magnum opus, REVENGE OF THE NINJA (1983). Moreover, the action gets so crazy during the last half with machine gun-toting ninjas and a stunt-filled action sequence inside an abandoned factory, you forget about the Havlock character altogether. If nothing else, Kosugi wasn't shy about letting the villain beat him up to try and make the fight exciting.

If you're a fan of the actor, and used to seeing Sho dressed as a ninja slicing up his foes, RAGE OF HONOR will be a hard sell. He's still playing a ninja, but without the suit, albeit with flashier toys than before (the explosive shuriken is a hoot!). Compared to some of his previous movies, the violence is really tame amounting to a few squibs here and there, and some shuriken lodged into necks. Today it would probably get by with a PG-13. Occasionally over the top and brimming with unrealized potential, with a little more money behind it, RAGE OF HONOR could have been the start of a reinvigorated career for Sho Kosugi in America.

This review is representative of the MGM DVD. Specs and Extras: Fullscreen (opening and ending credits 1.85:1); theatrical trailer.

Revenge of the Ninja (1983) review

REVENGE OF THE NINJA 1983

Sho Kosugi (Cho Osaki), Arthur Roberts (Braden), Keith Vitali (Dave Hatcher), Ashley Ferrare (Cathy), Kane Kosugi (Kane Osaki), Virgil Frye (Lt. Dime), Mario Gallo (Caifano), Grace Oshita (Grandmother), Professor Toru Tanaka (Sumo servant)

Directed by Sam Firstenberg

The Short Version: The best US made movie about those black-clad stealth assassins is this lean, mean ninja machine starring Sho Kosugi. The plot is in the title, and the dialog is little more than a device to move from one fight to the next which is literally every few minutes. The action is often bloody, and always varied. A popular, profitable film in its day, REVENGE OF THE NINJA -- the second, and best of an unrelated ninja trilogy holds up extremely well as a macho martial arts classic.

After a decades long feud leaves his family murdered by ninja assassins, Cho Osaki, at the urging of an American friend, takes his son and mother to the United States to set up a doll gallery and start a new life. Unbeknownst to him, Cho's friend uses the gallery as a front for heroin shipments in association with a Yakuza syndicate from Japan, and a local mob cartel. Upon discovering this betrayal, Cho realizes no matter where he may go, there's no escaping his ninja past. 

Martial arts films were a dime a dozen back in the day. There were some good ones, and a whole lot of bad ones. This was especially true for ninja movies -- a style of martial arts actioner that has been predominantly poorly served on celluloid. Like Sonny Chiba before him, Sho Kosugi was integral in carving the ninja terminology into the American iconography in the 80s. For a good half dozen Nippon influenced actioners, Sho Kosugi enjoyed a brief tenure as an action star in Hollywood.

Then newcomer, Polish born Sam Firstenberg was one of the reliable members of Cannon's stable when it came to making escapist action pictures. He helmed some of the company's best remembered pictures from their 80s heyday. REVENGE OF THE NINJA is one such movie. This high-octane, violent martial arts spectacle was one of Firstenberg's most successful movies, and likely the most successful of its star, Sho Kosugi. Aside from PRAY FOR DEATH (1986), this is possibly Sho's most fantastic showcase.

Cannon's celluloid mishap ENTER THE NINJA (1981) formally introduced the world to Sho Kosugi, albeit as a villain. That pictures biggest claim to fame was being instrumental in stirring up ninja mania all around the world for a brief time, and was a decent enough success to gamble on a follow up feature. REVENGE isn't a direct sequel, but the second entry in an unrelated trilogy. In ENTER, Sho was the main fighting villain with a serious beef against an 'out of his element' Franco Nero pretending to be a warrior of the night (while wearing white ninja gear). Nero did a really lousy job of it, too. For REVENGE and NINJA III: THE DOMINATION (1984), Sho is the lead protagonist. 

REVENGE OF THE NINJA is easily the best of the American made Shinobi movies from the 1980s. Heavily laced with action, it unfolds like a video game. Every five minutes there's a fight sequence, and very few of the bad guys look alike. Many of them have their own unique look (an Indian, a guy dressed like a cowboy, etc). Furthermore, the picture faithfully follows the Hong Kong kung fu template wherein any and every setting means someone will be just around the corner ready to kick your ass. 

For instance, one scene has Cho and Dave (played by real martial artist Keith Vitali) seeking information about his missing son and vandalized doll gallery from a gang hanging out in a park. Just prior to this, Dave says, "There are some ex-cons I know who might have some information about your dolls." Just that sentence alone lets the viewer know the only info that will be passed around are digits of the fist and foot variety; and as expected, the gang, looking like the thug version of the Village People, show more interest in fighting. Nothing is learned to propel the story; the sequence is simply designed to showcase a fight, and virtually every other fight -- all elaborately, and brutally choreographed, mind you -- operates in the same fashion. Even when there's no actual fighting, something involving martial arts is onscreen. 

Aside from Sho Kosugi bearing the most intimidating visage this side of Sonny Chiba, Firstenberg's film contains one of the greatest movie chases of all time. What's special about this five minute chase is that the bad guys (again, another eclectic mix of characters) are in a van and Cho is on foot! He's leaping over walls, and on top of cars, and damned determined to get his dolls back. Cho catches up to them, and manages to spring onto the roof of the van. Accomplishing little from up there, Cho flips through the windshield where the battle continues. Eventually everybody spills out into the street till one bad guy remains and the chase is on again! At this point Cho is being dragged from the rear of the van, holding on for dear life to get those dolls back while the concrete acts as a sharpening stone against his legs. It's an incredible sequence, and if done today, it would have most likely been accentuated with computer technology.

The stunning final fight atop a skyscraper is the KING KONG of ninja battles. It took two weeks to shoot this elaborate duel. All that effort pays off as Sho and Braden battle it out all over the rooftops using every ninja trick in the book. The finale, as well as the entire movie, is spiced up with gory deaths and spraying blood that will recall imagery of Japan's LONE WOLF AND CUB (1972-1974) series, and the Shaw Brothers style of martial arts mayhem.

The acting is about what you'd expect, but serviceable. Some of it's good, and some of it veers into atrocious territory. Sho Kosugi's intensity carries the entire movie, but those condemned to bad acting purgatory include Arthur Roberts (see insert) and Keith Vitali. Roberts utters all his lines in the same tone. He's not convincing at all as a ninja, and it was a good idea for the main villain to wear a silver demon mask so as to hide Eddie Tse -- who was actually wearing the suit. Vitali is a superb martial artist, but he's even more robotic than Roberts when he speaks his lines. Still, a couple more scenes with him fighting alongside Sho would have been welcome. He's better served as a nemesis of Jackie Chan in WHEELS ON MEALS (1984).

 
Sho's more famous of his two sons, Kane Kosugi, is introduced in this movie. Shane is the child that takes a shuriken right to the brain at the beginning. Both boys featured together in some capacity in three other of their father's films -- 9 DEATHS OF THE NINJA (1985), PRAY FOR DEATH (1986), and BLACK EAGLE (1988). Kane got the most exposure, and is currently enjoying a career of his own today. Some of his resume includes MUSCLE HEAT (2002), GODZILLA: FINAL WARS (2004), DOA: DEAD OR ALIVE (2006), and NINJA: SHADOW OF A TEAR (2013).

The attractive Ashley Ferrare replaced another actress virtually at the last minute. She was new to acting, and was quite beautiful with a very toned figure. Apparently some of her scenes (in addition to some scenes of violence) were either cut, or reshot. The trailer features a few shots of scenes not in the released version. Unfortunately, Ashley's career in show business seems to have been a short one. Her only other credits were an episode of THE MASTER (1984) and the Fred Olen Ray SciFi actioner, CYCLONE (1987).

The actual box office numbers sourced for REVENGE OF THE NINJA vary between $10 million to a little over $13,000,000. Released in 432 theaters, then 504 by the time it finished its run, Kosugi's movie performed comparably, if not surpassing films starring bigger names like Chuck Norris and Charles Bronson. Their films released that year -- LONE WOLF MCQUADE and 10 TO MIDNIGHT -- were released in more theaters.

With the success of Firstenberg's film, he was asked to do a sequel. NINJA III: THE DOMINATION followed in 1984. It was vastly different from the previous two pictures. 1985 brought one of the decades most popular action movies with Firstenberg's AMERICAN NINJA (1985). AVENGING FORCE (1986), a sort-of sequel to INVASION USA (1985) and AMERICAN NINJA 2: THE CONFRONTATION (1987) rounded out the directors theatrical action output. The 90s saw Firstenberg helm some films that were released straight to video such as AMERICAN SAMURAI (1992) -- a film that was heavily edited on tape, but was shown in all its gory glory on cable. CYBORG COP 1 and 2 from 1993 and 1994 respectively continued the directors penchant for action.

If you've never seen a Sho Kosugi movie, this is a great start. If you're already familiar with the man, a rewatch doesn't sound like such a bad idea, either. This second entry is such a tightly woven, gory action thrill ride, it's debatable what impact REVENGE would have had on the genre in America had it come first instead of the inferior ENTER. With a finely toned script from James R. Silke and a memorably catchy, stinging score from Rob Walsh, REVENGE OF THE NINJA (1983) is about as good of a Drive-in style martial arts actioner as you're going to get for one made in America.

This review is representative of the MGM DVD.