Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky (aka Lik Wong) (subtitled) (1991)

Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky (subtitled) (1991)

8/10

Oh my, my, my. This was the first movie that really rocked me, only to be upstaged by "Tokyo Gore Police" . This movie has violence and gore out the wazoo.

Obviously this is the story of Ricky. His girlfriend is killed by a drug dealer. Ricky kills the drug dealer using his special brand of kung-fu, and gets thrown in jail. A very corrupt jail.

Once Ricky is in jail, he wants nothing to do with the power structure. The power structure consisting of the corrupt Warden, Assistant Warden (AW), and the 'Gang of 4'. The "4" are Bosses that each control one wing of the prison. However, after one of the lackeys attack an innocent old man for no reason and Ricky defends the man (which ends up mutilating the thug), Ricky is targeted by the local Boss. After some attempted, and failed, smack downs (including Ricky literally punch through a sumo-type guy), Ricky is brought to the AW (the Warden is out on business). We get to see the AW change his fake eye out, and then knife Ricky's hand to the desk. Nasty.

Ricky takes on the Boss from his wing. This fight would be the end battle in most movies, but not here, this is just a warmup. At one point Ricky's arm gets slashed open, so Ricky uses his other hand and his teeth (!) to tie the tendons back together. Remember that the next time you skin your knee playing softball. Boss man is losing the battle badly, so he does the sensible thing and rips out his own intestines and tries to strangle Ricky with them. Remember that the next time you stub your toe.

From here on out is a series of attempts by the Gang and the AW to kill Ricky. Group attacks, sneak attacks, burying Ricky up to his head in the courtyard, the usual. Each fight is another trip to "I can't believe I just saw that" land. Ricky is a combination of the Incredible Hulk and Ryu from Street Fighter (the game). He is incredibly strong, incredibly deadly, and seems to be nigh immortal.

After Ricky dispatches nearly every bad guy in the prison, the Warden returns with his nancy son. The son is one very annoying brat. You'll be wishing Ricky punched him in the head after about 2 minutes of his prattling on and on and....

It turns out that the Warden also knows Ricky's special kung-fu style, setting up the final climatic scene in the prison's kitchen. As you can imagine, this kitchen has every single sharp item ever made. Really, it's only a prison for hardened criminals, so what harm could come with leaving a claymore laying around (OK, there's no claymore, but there IS an adult-sized meat grinder). The fight is epic in video game style. It's so over-the-top, it took the top, beat it up, and then threw the top over itself.

There are some subplots about an opium growing operation in the prison, which upsets Ricky due to the drug dealer killing his girlfriend backstory. These subplots really are not important. What is important is watching Ricky chew his way through bad guys like a John Deere turbo-tractor through tall grass. I mentioned this is a violent and gory movie. You wouldn't believe me if I tried to explain half the things that happen. However, the gore is not very realistic, which is actually a good thing considering some of the violence. Even with being obviously fake, the FX are great. The dialog is almost superfluous, and the acting is comic bookish.

If you are squeamish about gore and/or ultra-violence, this is not a movie for you. If you want an outlandish dishing of bizarre fight violence, go rent this now. I would also give this film a strong buy recommendation. Do not expect a grand story. This is a story about a righteous killing machine taking out the trash. This is the story of Ricky.