Rating: ***
Review Date: 6/24/24
Cast: Sonny Chiba, Ryoji Hayama, Tomoko Mayama, cameo by Yayoi Watanabe
Gosuke Himuro (Sonny Chiba) is the son of a slain crime boss and an expert marksman. Several years after his father's death, he returns home for revenge and pits two rival gangs against each other. He also attempts to rescue his sister (pretty Yayoi Watanabe), who was abducted by the bad guys and forced into working at a "secret club" that caters to all sorts of depravity. Needless to say, a lot of blood gets shed along the way.
It's an overblown exercise in violence and sleaze, which is immediately evident in the opening seconds of the film. If you can get past the sexism, misogyny, and violence towards women that is inherent in the genre, it's also a good-looking and well-made production, apart from some needlessly chaotic handheld camera work. Sonny Chiba is excellent as Himuro, who looks like he just walked off the set of a spaghetti western. He also drives a Mustang Mach One, which is extremely sexy. That alone warrants the 3-star rating. Chiba gives a noticeably subdued performance, and his usual bug-eyed overacting is completely absent. In fact, the stoic and sleepy-eyed Himuro hardly moves at all, and the camera often lingers uncomfortably on him being completely still. It's a welcome change and it makes his character even more intimidating.
The action is violent and brutal, although Sonny Chiba only gets into one hand-to-hand fight. Instead, he tends to let the other characters do his dirty work for him. Unfortunately, things become really ridiculous during the final showdown when he loses the use of his hands and has to come up with alternate ways to fire a gun. Despite its shortcomings, I enjoyed the film quite a bit, which made me question why I'm so drawn to 70's exploitation cinema.