Lik Wong (1991)

User Rating:

7.1/10   

Director:

Ngai Kai Lam

Writers:

Tetsuya Saruwatari (manga "Riki-oh")
Ngai Kai Lam (screenplay)

Release Date:

9 April 1991 (Japan)

Genre:

Action | Crime | Thriller

Plot:

A young man with superhuman strength is incarcerated at a prison run by corrupt officials and seeks to use his martial arts to clean up the system.

Plot Keywords:

Prison | Martial Arts | Torture | Face Ripped Off | Threatened With Knife

Cast

Siu-Wong Fan	...	Riki-Oh Saiga
Mei Sheng Fan	...	Assistant Warden (as Faan Mooi Saang)
Ka-Kui Ho	...	Warden Sugiyama
Yukari Ôshima	...	Yomi - Huang Chaun
Frankie Chin	...	Narumi - Hai
Tetsuro Tamba	...	Master Zhang Shan-Gui
Gloria Yip	...	Keiko - Riki's Girlfriend
Philip Kwok	...	Lin Hung
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Suet Lam
Daan Bob Chit Long
Ji Keung Wong
Cheng Chuen Yam	...	Wildcat

Also Known As:

King of Strength (International: English title) (literal title)
Li wang (Hong Kong: Mandarin title)
Riki Ô
Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky (USA)
Story of Ricky (Hong Kong: English title)

MPAA:

Rated R for strong violence and gore, and for some drug content.

Runtime:

Germany:91 min | Japan:91 min | USA:88 min (unrated version)

Country:

Hong Kong | Japan

Language:

Cantonese

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Germany:18 | Hong Kong:III | Spain:18 | UK:18 | USA:NC-17 | USA:R (edited for re-rating) | West Germany:(Banned) | Ireland:(Banned) | Finland:K-18 | Australia:R | New Zealand:R18 | Taiwan:R-18 | Sweden:15 | South Korea:18 | Philippines:R-18 | Norway:18 | Netherlands:16 | Mexico:C | Malaysia:(Banned) | Japan:R-15 | Italy:VM18 | Ireland:18 (re-rating) (2002) | Hungary:18 | France:-16 | Czech Republic:18 | Chile:18 | Canada:R (British Columbia/Ontario) | Canada:R (Alberta/Manitoba/Prince Edward Island) | Canada:18 (Nova Scotia) | Canada:18+ (Quebec) | Brazil:18

Company:

Diagonal Pictures

Trivia:

So much and so thick was the fake blood used in the "Meat Grinder" finale that Siu-Wong Fan, the actor who played Ricky, could not wash the red off his skin for three days.

Quotes:

Warden Cobra: I'm tougher than you think! The warden of any prison has to be the very best in kung fu.

Movie Connections:

Version of Riki Oh 2: Horobi no ko (1990) (V)

Comic-book shocker, with gallons of blood and gore!!...

STORY OF RICKY (Li Wang)

Aspect ratio: 1.85:1

Sound format: Mono

After killing the drug-addicted lowlife who murdered his fiancée, an unlucky strongman (Terry Fan Siu-wong) is remanded to a corrupt prison where he's forced to defend himself against inmates and tyrannical officials, spilling gallons of blood and gore along the way...

Notorious for its splattery violence and hyper-stylized melodrama, STORY OF RICKY - derived from the Japanese manga 'Riki-Oh' created by Tetsuya Saruwatari - is directed by former cinematographer Laam Naai-choi, whose earlier efforts (THE SEVENTH CURSE, EROTIC GHOST STORY, etc.) rarely scaled the same dizzy heights of outrage and audacity. Shot on a shoestring budget in Macao, the film combines high octane bloodshed with "Carry On"-style humor (watch out for the incredible moment when a character uses his intestines as a weapon!), mixed with visual references to earlier exploitation fare such as THE STREET FIGHTER (1974) and THE FURY (1978), though the makeup effects are rudimentary at best, in keeping with the film's comic-book tone.

Japanese actress Yukari Oshima takes second billing as one of the *male* villains (she's dubbed with a masculine voice), and fan favorite Gloria Yip (SAVIOUR OF THE SOUL) plays the hero's ill-fated girlfriend in a series of corny 'feel-good' flashbacks. But the film belongs to handsome, hunky Terry Fan, ripping his shirt off at the drop of an intestine and posing impressively for the various combat sequences. Clothed or unclothed, he's never less than magnificent to behold, and director Laam uses the actor's exaggerated studliness to lampoon the homoerotic spectacle which once fuelled 'golden age' kung fu pictures. It ain't Shakespeare, but trash/splatter fans will embrace the movie with gusto. Also known as STORY OF RICKY AKA RIKI-OH.

(Cantonese dialogue)