Satsujin ken 2 (1974)

Director:

Shigehiro Ozawa

Writers:

Hajjime Koiwa (screenplay)
Kôji Takada (creator)

Release Date:

3 December 1975 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Crime | Drama

Tagline:

The incredible Sonny Chiba is back! And he's meaner than ever!

Plot:

Takuma "Terry" Tsurugi returns. In this sequel, he sets out to bust up a phony charity put together by the Yukuza. |

Plot Keywords:

Sequel | Karate | Gangster | Battle | Tonfa

Cast

Sonny Chiba	...	Takuma Tsurugi
Yôko Ichiji	...	Pin Boke
Masashi Ishibashi	...	Tateki Shikenbaru
Claude Gagnon	...	Don Costello
Hiroshi Tanaka	...	Isamu Otaguro
Masafumi Suzuki	...	Kendo Masaoka
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Keisuke Handa	...	Takutoshi
Masataka Iwao	...	Masuda
Masagoro Koizumi	...	Fujimura
Xun-Mei Lin	...	Tateishi
Kaoru Nakajima	...	Kazuko Masaoka
Kuniaki Nukui	...	Kato
Michimaro Otabe	...	Shinsei Construction Manager
Kazuyuki Saito	...	Kuroda
Shunji Sasaki	...	Police Clerk
Naoki Shima	...	Shichiro Yamagami
Yoshiki Yamada	...	Inspector Fujisaki
Shingo Yamashiro	...	Man in Sauna
Katsuya Yamashita	...	Imura
George Yirikian	...	The Masked Hitman

Also Known As:

Return of the Street Fighter (International: English title)
Street Fighter 2 (Japan: English title)

Runtime:

UK:73 min (cut version) | USA:88 min | 85 min (DVD version)

Country:

Japan

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

UK:15 | Australia:M (DVD rating) (uncut) | Australia:M (cut) | USA:R (cut) | USA:X (original rating) | Finland:K-18 | Norway:(Banned)

Company:

New Line Cinema

Movie Connections:

Referenced in My Best Friend's Birthday (1987)

Return of the badass fighter

Director Shigehiro Ozawa and Sonny Chiba did this sequel immediately after their first Street Fighter (1974) in 1974-5. The plot is almost identical (what there is) as Sonny is again Terry who does dirty jobs for the mob and never has any morality in his mind bothering him. He just kills and kicks people's asses if the job requires that. Well so much for any "deeper" elements this film would have had; these are just ultra violent action films which are there only to offer the audience more savage action than those of HK film makers' of the same period.

Return of the Street Fighter has many flashbacks from the first film and never seems too original or interesting, but still it is never boring or hard to watch without falling asleep. The action is plentiful and Sonny tries again to be ultra cool and tough guy with some misogynistic habits, too. The violence is laughably over the top but still shocking and extreme enough to secure the highest X rating (or NC-17) for this kind of film, and so a film this savage would never come from Hollywood nowadays.

If one likes mindless action and memorable music score with strong imagery of gratuitous violence, then Return of the Street Fighter is worth a watch, but still I prefer the original first Fighter film (not that it is any remarkable masterpiece either). These films are Japan's answer to Hong Kong's Bruce Lee and Jimmy Wang Yu, but ten times more vicious, mindless and cinematically not so ambitious. 4/10