What? Why the heck are we reviewing a Sonny Chiba flick on a site dedicated to Bruceploitation? Well, for one good reason: this low budget martial arts flick actually got released in the United States under the title THE SOUL OF BRUCE LEE. Images of sweaty distribution execs barking, "Hey, they all look alike!" immediately pop into one's head.
Starting off with the serious martial arts beat, SOUL OF CHIBA packs in every kung fu cliché in the first 10 minutes (before the title even pops up). An orphaned kid in Thailand asks a teacher to train him after some soldiers kill his parents. Said kid grows up to be Sonny Chiba (damn, he was lucky) who learns just enough before seeing his master snuffed out by fellow student Sam Won. Chiba vows revenge and eventually finds Sam Won (it is funny because Sam Won sounds like "someone" so it sounds like Chiba is asking "Have you seen someone?" or "Do you know someone?"). But Sam tells him the teacher was a drug pusher (!) and then he kicks Chiba off a cliff. Yes, all that happens in the first ten minutes! After that, the film gets really weird with Chiba still looking for Sam Won and getting help from undercover cop Tadashi Yamashita. It plays like a Yakuza film for the next hour but then suddenly turns back into a kung fu film when Chiba and Yamashita find out Sam Won is hiding on an island.
Damn, this is one insane movie. It reminds me of a person with multiple personalities like Keith (aka Fred). Half of the film is an old school kung fu basher type, the other a tattoo heavy Yakuza yarn. At one point I started to wonder if it was two different films edited together but then all the characters appeared together. Oh well, at least the whole thing is about revenge. I have never heard anyone say they had to kill their teacher because he was a drug pusher (imagine a white bearded guy in a karate gei on the corner pushing smack). The funny thing is SPOILER ALERT he really does turn out to be a drug pusher. HA! And he faked his own death in front of Chiba to get the cops off his back. HA! Sounds like some seriously wasted revenge there Sonny!
Bruceploitation fans will get a kick out of Tadashi Yamashita (Bronson Lee himself) who does pull off a few Bruce type screeches in the epic final battle. Also, Bruceploitation and kung fu vet Bolo pops up as a thug who doesn't speak because he got his tongue ripped out. So don't go in expecting the usual Bolo monologues contemplating the state of the world.
Review by William.