| The Story Of Ricky (1991) Cast:Siu-Wang Fan,Mei Sheng Fan, Ka-Ki Ho,Tetsuro Tamba, Gloria Yip When it comes to Anime films I must admit i'm not a fan, I'm also not a fan of the disappointing live action Anime films such Fist Of The North Star and Crying Freeman but I think this reason is because American films are afraid of making anything remotely unconventional, and with Fist Of The North Star bombing in theaters (if it played in theaters, I don't know if it did or not.) and Crying Freeman never released here on video or DVD, it speaks volumes that this Hong Kong effort isn't only the best movie to ever be adapted from anime but also is one of the best to ever come from Hong Kong, it really is great entertainment. The movie is about a martial artist named Ricky (Siu-Wang Fan) who is a superhuman wrecking machine (Think Bruce Lee mixed with Sonny Chiba and the Incredible Hulk) and in prison he fights a slew of seemingly invincible villains including a supernatural demon. Oh boy, words cannot express how off the wall and gory The Story Of Ricky is. Or for that matter just how entertaining and did I mention extremely gory it is also. This is a splatter film that will gross out even Troma's biggest fans and it is brilliant! The Story Of Ricky at first seems like a kung fu flick in the vein of Bloodfist III:Forced To Fight or Death Warrant but then ups the ante by combining Freddy Krueger like bad guys, in fact what a showdown a battle between Freddy Krueger, Jason and Ricky would be. Chances are my money would all be on Ricky. At one point are hero is tied up and is force fed razor blades which he then spits into the head of the warden, or even more jaw dropping is the fight between a yakuza boss who disembowels himself all so he can try and strangle our hero with his intestines, after of course our hero uses his teeth to place his tendon back into place. This movie is insane. The climax is even more shocking as Ricky uses a meat grinder to dispose of bad guys and this truly is one of those movies you think WTF through out, people explode, eyeballs are knocked out of peoples heads by a hard hit to the head. This movie is extreme and yet oh what a lot of fun it is. It's the type of movie that crosses parody, martial arts and horror and somehow manages to work despite of its over ambitions and although the hero is probably strong enough to beat Godzilla in a fight to the death, you can't help but enjoy the movie's extreme absurdity and enjoy it. Indeed if they ever made a movie based on Chuck Norris facts this is what it would resemble and did I mention how gory and insanely fun it all is? No? Well this movie is truly epic in its wonderful carnage and fun factor. See it, if you're not squeamish, that is. D.Ngai Kai Lam **** |