Rating: **
Review Date:5/9/04
Alternate Title: Bronson Lee, Champion (U.S. Title)
Cast: Tadashi Yamashita, Yoko Horikoshi, Masafumi Suzuki
A pointless and confusing prologue introduces karate expert Tadashi Yamashita living with his grandmother in Ohio, in what appears to be the 1930s. He says he's leaving for Kyoto to win a karate tournament so that he can help pay for the farm, and the next thing you know, he's in 1970s Japan. Alone, broke, and with a short temper, he finds work at a small restaurant and makes friends with the film's annoyingly unnecessary comic relief character. From here, his only goal is to get into the international karate tournament by any means possible, which means beating the current Japanese champ and doing business with some shady criminals. The middle of the film is dominated by the tournament itself, which consists of karate experts from all over the world. Naturally, Tadashi makes it to the final round, which ends in a draw and makes the criminals angry because they were illegally betting on the outcome. It also turns out that nearly all of the defeated contestants are sore losers and want to kill Tadashi, so everyone is out to get him.
Tadashi Yamashita is definitely the real deal and watching him fight is very entertaining. Unfortunately, most of his opponents can't keep up, or are obviously pulling their punches as to not injure the star of the show. Yamashita is an interesting actor very much in the style of Sonny Chiba. He has a wild mop of voluminous hair and a thick distinctive moustache, which is unusual for a young Japanese actor. His wild expressions are reminiscent of Chiba, while his ridiculous bird calls imitate Bruce Lee. The combination of both creates an unintentionally comical presentation, and the film comes across as overly silly. The exception is in the karate tournament itself, which is played overly seriously. If you're a fan of no-nonsense karate sparring, then add another star to the rating: This movie is for you. Even the lovely Yoko Horikoshi gets in on the action, which I appreciated. Yamashita also fights with a bunch of weapons, which I always enjoy seeing. He's evidently THE go-to guy for the chain sickle. It's also nice seeing Masafumi Suzuki show up as the karate master, because OF COURSE he is. If a movie needs a karate master, he's the go-to guy for that, and by this point it's hilarious how many movies he's been in playing the exact same role. Another thing I really appreciated about the film was that despite being a source of endless rage with a short fuse, Yamashita manages to strike up a sincere and meaningful friendship with an American fighter at the tournament, who seems to be the only one who's not out to kill him. It's an unusual display of mutual kinship and respect that you don't see often in the genre. So if you like your karate movies to be both silly and serious, with extreme over-acting, "Za Karate" is worth checking out.