Plot:
Some of the names I couldn't seem to pick up on in the movie.
The movie opens to the Bible verse that Sam Jackson quoted in Pulp Fiction. Well, with a slight difference, Chiba the Bodyguard is substituted for the Lord.
In New York City, we are treated to various sights to assure us it is New York City. UN, etc... People are leaving a cathedral. Machine gun fire erupts. Mafia Don Salvatore Rocco is gunned down. He seems to be a little too Japanese to be mistaken for an Italian crime lord. From the spinning newspapers, Rocco had stolen a large quantity of drugs. The police are looking for his long time companion that disappeared AKA girlfriend.
We get a scene of guys practicing martial arts in the woods while "Viva Chiba" is being chanted. It has to be considered quite surreal.
Back in New York, in Times Square, before it became family friendly, guys are sparring in the New York Karate Academy. Black-track suit guy defeats the students. The instructor demonstrates how Sonny Chiba would do it. Black-track suit guy thinks Bruce Lee is better. The only thing that connects this to the rest of the movie is when they mention Sonny Chiba is on a plane to Tokyo. You'll never see these guys again.
A group of guys in business suits take over a plane. They are looking for Chiba or, they'll kill everyone aboard. Well, they get what they want when they find him. Sonny, and yes it's his name in the movie, commences to defeat them all while still keeping a cigarette in his mouth, save one. Chiba knocks his teeth out.
At a press conference, Sonny talks about how the hijackers dealt in narcotics. It is pretty fun to see a room of people who are supposed to be journalists questioning the anti-drug expert Sonny Chiba. Sonny will destroy the drug trade in Japan. He gets a bottle and breaks the neck off of it with one blow. That is a demonstration of what he'll do to headman of the drug trade. Chiba also offers to protect anyone with information that will help against the drug ring.
Sonny and his sister, Maki, are talking about his plan. Maki is afraid for Sonny. Hear approaching footsteps. Sonny wants proof from Raiko. Maki goes after it.
Thugs grab Maki who fights them off. A fight starts. Sonny realizes something must be wrong since Maki hasn't returned yet. She's sprawled naked on the ground where a shadow of the cross covered the naked pieces. He manages to awaken her. "Cosa Nostra" is carved into her arm.
Besides Sonny being recognized as an expert martial artist and anti-drug expert, he's also not dense. Sonny figures Maki was hurt by guys that mistook her for Raiko, who wasn't named into late in the movie. They go to her hotel suite where Sonny checks to make sure it's safe. Down at the bar, Sonny is stone cold sober. He's on duty. Raiko tries hitting on him which ends in failure. Back in her suite, she goes to bed. Knifes pop out of the couch and cut the seat cushions open. Guys were hiding in the sofa. Raiko is scared and prevented from screaming.
Sonny realizes something is wrong. The guys shoot the door and, Chiba manages to rip through the door and grab one of the guy's arms. Meanwhile they try to interrogate Raiko. Chiba manages to rip the guys arm off. Sonny manages to scare these guys away fast. It turns out these were some of the mob's greatest killers. The question is why did they leave Raiko alive?
Near the shipyards, drug guys are meeting. They know Raiko is in the country and presumably has the stuff. The big plan is get the drugs and then kill her.
Back at the suite, Chiba frisks Taka, a friend of Raiko. They were involved long ago, back when she was a girl of less than sterling morals. They discuss business. Rip off the mob is the plan. Taka and Raiko decide to shake hands horizontally.
At the club with no name, a cheezy exotic dancer dances. Guys in the back apparently run a little prostitution. Guy wants some company. The girl refuses until the guy with the knife makes her more agreeable.
Raiko and Sonny go to the club. The backroom guys recognize them. Raiko gets the information about the meet.
A plane is about to land, Chiba and Raiko are at the airport. That night, at the United States Air Force base, Raiko buys her way through the front gate and drives onto the base. A coffin in loaded into the car. The guy that helps load the coffin is going home and this being his last job feels he'd entitled to a bonus. He drags Raiko off. Fortunately, Sonny is around to prevent the mistreatment of women.
Leave the base and have to pull off the road. They were being tailed. Sonny gets Raiko to duck before the windshield as peppered with bullets; Chiba manages to unleash some sweet kung fu upon the guy. Afterwards, Sonny inspects the coffin. Dead body check. Dead body has drugs instead of an arm, check. This is the last piece of the puzzle. He understands why everybody is after Raiko, now. And who she is the girlfriend of Rocco the slain Mafia Don. Raiko is after the money from selling the drugs. Chiba will help her. It will help him get the headman. I think the logic train has long since derailed in this movie.
Back at the club with no name. Hassling Guy is drunk. Goons get his friend, the guard at the gate Raiko paid off. Hassling Guy makes it to his car before he's caught. The backroom goons are beating the front guard for information about what Raiko picked up in the base. He refuses to talk.
In a parking garage, Raiko and Chiba get in the car and find the severed head of Hassling Dude with the words "Cosa Nostra" carved into it. Raiko still doesn't have the sense to quit trying to go through with the deal.
Mob and Raiko exchange the drugs for cash. Raiko and Chiba are suddenly surrounded with guns pointed at them. Would it surprise anyone to learn the Mob is double-crossing them? Head Mob Guy orders Last Mob Guy to kill Chiba then Raiko. Last Mob Guy manages to shoot all of the Mob guys. Grab the cases of money, it is cutup newspaper. So, the Mob double-crossed Raiko who crossed the Mob who had the presence of mind to not bring the cash. Raiko grabs the drugs that Last Mob Guy wants. Tries to shoot them.
More gunmen start shooting from all over the place. Raiko and Chiba are on the move trying to get out of this mess. Chiba gets to fight one of them. Sonny has more of the gunmen to fight. Suddenly, the gunmen are being shot. Taka and club guys take care of the Mafia. Sonny and Raiko get away.
Club guys want to know where Raiko is hiding. Apparently, they deal drugs on the military base. Taka warns them about Chiba and then reveals where Raiko is staying.
Sonny tries to convince Raiko to get rid of the drugs. She tries hitting on him again with the previous results. Raiko claims he doesn't want to help her. Would his very anti-drug status be part of his reasons? She does a big no-no and calls him a coward. They slap each other. And what could very well be a first in movies, they don't try a liplock next.
Raiko leaves the suite. On the street, she realizes somebody s following her. Sugaru, club guy, grabs her demanding the drugs. It looks as if Raiko will be unable to escape this predicament. But, have no fear for Sonny Chiba is here!!!
The fastest fight ends between Sonny and Sugaru. Sugaru's brother shows up aching to show Sonny true Kung Fu. But, he takes his brother away. Back at the club, Sugaru is patched up.
Back at the hotel suite, the phone rings Sonny sees that Raiko has a big check. She has another deal for the drugs. Raiko leaves for the meet in the shipyard. Taka gets the drop on Sugaru, uses him as a shield. Sonny shows up and the goons begin trying to kill him. Why do I think they'll fail? Sugaru escapes from Taka who rewards him with a bullet in the back. Taka is promptly knifed in the back. Sonny grabs Raiko and tries to escape. Chiba fights a Goon.
Chiba versus Sugaru's brother. Fight on. Chiba quickly finishes him. Raiko is shot in the back by a dying club goon.
