"Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky" is a Hong Kong martial arts film adapted from a Japanese manga that was released in 1991. This movie is a low budget action packed gore-fest that can be compared to Sam Raimi's "Evil Dead" in relation to American cinema. This movie not only utilizes, but embraces the use of excessive violence and graphic bloodshed, leading me to believe that a majority of the budget must have been spent on fake blood. Action packed martial arts scenes and some of the lamest special effects in cinema solidify cult film status for "Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky," even if some viewers are just watching it because it is just that bad.
"Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky" opens with a transport vehicle bringing new inmates to a correction facility somewhere in Asia, although for some odd reason the name of the prison is written in Spanish. A black screen then appears with white writing informing the audience that the time period is 2001 and in this future all prisons are privatized and run like businesses. Riki-Oh, or Ricky as he is referred to in the English subtitles, emerges from the transport and enters the prison to begin his ten year sentence for murder. Ricky soon realizes that the prison is run by a tyrannical warden and his assistant, both of whom treat inmates like expendable resources. Ricky now must fight for his fellow inmates and his own freedom. clashing with four skilled fighters brawling his way through to the fiendish warden.
"Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky" is certainly not a typical Kung Fu movie. We have a hero avenging his girlfriend's death and protecting the weak, but we also have a villain with a prosthetic eye in which he stores mints. There are numerous fight scenes between our hero and villains, but there is also a scene where a dog is kicked so hard it splits in half. At times I found myself laughing at how absurd the movie was becoming with every minute that passed. At one point a villain stabs himself in the stomach and tries to choke Ricky with his own intestines, prompting the assistant warden in one translation to cleverly say, "I knew you had guts!" As over the top as this movie becomes it continues to increase in violence and does not lose pace by diminishing the bloodshed.
Aside from six villains and Ricky this movie does not have any characters worth remembering. The warden's enforcers, known as the Gang of Four, all use different fighting techniques and seem to increase in strength from the first to fight to the last. The most memorable of the four is Huang Chaun, a deadly male warrior played by a female actress. It is completely evident Huang Chaun is a woman, but the filmmakers hilariously dub her voice with a man's to keep up the illusion. The assistant warden is a combination of villain clichés retaining an evil looking prosthetic eye and a hook hand, appearing much more interesting than the seemingly normal looking warden. The warden himself, a middle aged bald man with a chubby brat of a son, has a secret that luckily allows him to become a unique character by the end of the movie.
Anytime a hero in a movie is strong to the point that they can literally punch through a person the viewer needs to watch with an open mind. "Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky" is cheesy and lacking in special effects, but it is also over the top and hilarious. I would recommend this movie to anyone with a high tolerance for extreme violence and gore, or someone who wants to see a man's eye pop out from being hit so hard in the head. If anything, at least this movie gives us the head crushing scene formerly shown on "The Daily Show" when Craig kilborn was the host. "Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky," heads might not roll, but they sure will get crushed!
"Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky" opens with a transport vehicle bringing new inmates to a correction facility somewhere in Asia, although for some odd reason the name of the prison is written in Spanish. A black screen then appears with white writing informing the audience that the time period is 2001 and in this future all prisons are privatized and run like businesses. Riki-Oh, or Ricky as he is referred to in the English subtitles, emerges from the transport and enters the prison to begin his ten year sentence for murder. Ricky soon realizes that the prison is run by a tyrannical warden and his assistant, both of whom treat inmates like expendable resources. Ricky now must fight for his fellow inmates and his own freedom. clashing with four skilled fighters brawling his way through to the fiendish warden.
"Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky" is certainly not a typical Kung Fu movie. We have a hero avenging his girlfriend's death and protecting the weak, but we also have a villain with a prosthetic eye in which he stores mints. There are numerous fight scenes between our hero and villains, but there is also a scene where a dog is kicked so hard it splits in half. At times I found myself laughing at how absurd the movie was becoming with every minute that passed. At one point a villain stabs himself in the stomach and tries to choke Ricky with his own intestines, prompting the assistant warden in one translation to cleverly say, "I knew you had guts!" As over the top as this movie becomes it continues to increase in violence and does not lose pace by diminishing the bloodshed.
Aside from six villains and Ricky this movie does not have any characters worth remembering. The warden's enforcers, known as the Gang of Four, all use different fighting techniques and seem to increase in strength from the first to fight to the last. The most memorable of the four is Huang Chaun, a deadly male warrior played by a female actress. It is completely evident Huang Chaun is a woman, but the filmmakers hilariously dub her voice with a man's to keep up the illusion. The assistant warden is a combination of villain clichés retaining an evil looking prosthetic eye and a hook hand, appearing much more interesting than the seemingly normal looking warden. The warden himself, a middle aged bald man with a chubby brat of a son, has a secret that luckily allows him to become a unique character by the end of the movie.
Anytime a hero in a movie is strong to the point that they can literally punch through a person the viewer needs to watch with an open mind. "Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky" is cheesy and lacking in special effects, but it is also over the top and hilarious. I would recommend this movie to anyone with a high tolerance for extreme violence and gore, or someone who wants to see a man's eye pop out from being hit so hard in the head. If anything, at least this movie gives us the head crushing scene formerly shown on "The Daily Show" when Craig kilborn was the host. "Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky," heads might not roll, but they sure will get crushed!