When you want to have a freelance cop go outside of his jurisdiction to take down a drug-lord, you better make sure he's a ninja. Just make sure you never address how he became a ninja or address him as such. Its not fair to the other DEA agents to have a ninja in their ranks.
If you're down with a cop/ninja killing lots and lots of people without determining if they are a) bad, b) part of the plot or c) posing any threat to life or property, well this is a film for you. If you're down with various forms and iterations of any cliche' bad guy ever, this film is for you. If you like your lead to speak in unintelligible mumbles and your villain to pronounce words and names in a form you can't understand, this film is for you.
Let's face it, this film is for you.
This film is one of the most over-the-top action movies we've ever reviewed. Some highlights: sticking a gun in someone's butt, physics defying shuriken, flips over bad guys, using your friend as a explosion shield, ninja-twins, indigenous people genocide, grappling hook bridges, arrow catching, bamboo-booby-traps, saw blades, rusty nails, commando-ninjas, teamsters, farmers, and tons of bonkers killings.
We love this movie and think it's core Sho Kosugi movie magic and a must do for lovers of silly films.
Over the top action:
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Horrendous acting:
Laugh-out-loud-ability:
Ridiculous stunts:
Gratuitous nudity:
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Bad Movie Quality:
Rage of Honor was the middle film in three collaborations between Gordon Gessler and Sho Kosugi. It is also the third film featuring Kosugi after the break up between he and Golan/Globus-helmed Cannon Group. Though some will dispute the validity of “ninjuitsu” as a martial art, I am not one of them. I have seen Kosugi in action and anyone who can kill with lollipops and nails is pretty fucking ninja to me. I don’t know how ninja anal raping another man with a 45 caliber hand gun is, as he also does that, but as a whole this guy is as ninja as it gets. As mentioned in previous episode Ninja 3: The Domination, Kosugi split with Cannon, most likely due to him being back seated in the film. He would follow with 9 Deaths of the Ninja, Prey for Death and this film. Sho was running the show by this point and what results is fairly magical. Not that the Cannon Kosugi team ups aren’t awesome, it is just that when Kosugi is calling the shots what results is on screen platinum poop. This is also the first film starring Kosugi where he isn’t explicitly a ninja. He is still a ninja though, he fights ninjas and he uses ninja weapons, though is presented to the audience as a cop of sorts.
I have to save what little Kosugi fun facts are left for next week’s blog as we will be running Sho two weeks in a row for 9 Deaths of the Ninja.
The other character of note in the film is actor Lewis Van Bergen. Bergen is about the shittiest bad guy you have seen in a movie. He starts out as a Denis Miller look alike, then dresses as the Tom Baker Dr. Who, tortures a guy while in the fashion of Charles Ingles and finishes with a Jungle Jim costume that showcases his appendix scar. Beyond his physically non-imposing stature and his whiney nature, he is just all together non-threatening. This was probably why he was cast in the short lived series Sable, about a mild mannered children’s book author by day and a street hardened vigilante by night. I just can’t imagine how that didn’t make at least 5 seasons. I also don’t know why CBS never ran my idea Mr. Batmanvedere, it would have worked. Bergen also had a major role in similarly titled Space Rage the year prior.