Story of Ricky (1992, aka "Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky")
literal translation: King of Strength
cast: Fan Siu-wong, Fan Mei-sheng, Ho Ka-kui, Yukari Oshima, Tamba Tetsuro, Gloria Yip,
and Phillip Kwok
director: Lam Nai-choi
"Story of Ricky," which is another marriage of Japanese anime and Hong Kong live action is one of the most ridiculous and ignorant films I have seen in a long time.
Over the years it has gained the attention of cult classic stardom here in America, recently being re-released by the Japanese in an uncut print (supposedly most Hong Kong prints are censored in someway) to satisfy hungry gore hounds and thirsty vampires alike. Whether or not Nam ever considers his film a success or whether he very well intended it to become a cult classic is anyone's guess.
What I do know is "Story of Ricky" (which the Japanese renamed "Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky" after the original anime from which the script is based) lacks the ultimate appeal of B-films most often panned by critics and later hailed by certain groups of film buffs. Most times these films have some kind of gratifying quality to them, sometimes intentionally--most of the time not. "Story of Ricky," whether done in all seriousness (and I doubt that) or not, lacks any kind of appeal or real taste.
Amazingly, both critics and audiences seem to be fans of the film despite the uncontrollable amounts of blood, flesh, gore, and the unmatchable cheesy effects that allow some of the characters literally punch through someone's belly.
In the near future, just after the millennium, Hong Kong has finally gone completely secular. Even the darkness of the sinkholes they call prisons are now commercial ventures. In these futuristic prisons, anything goes (head smashing, guts exploding, and prisoners that use their own innards as weapons). At the helm is an assistant warden who has a hook for his left hand and a fake eye to boot that he carries breath mints in. His superiors include the insanely sadistic warden and his obese adolescent son who whines and cries at the drop of a hat, and a group of martial arts terrors (one played by Yukari Oshima in a gender-bender role.)
When a young man named Ricky (pasty mediocre Fan Siu-wong) enters the prison after being convicted of murder all Hell breaks loose. This might have something to do with Ricky possessing special human strength that quips his use of kung fu.
Here is where the plot takes the nastiest turn for the worse: Ricky can crush anyone who gets in his way (and he does--literally) and yet he never tries to escape. Even some of the prisoners have fairly sophisticated constructed weapons that they mangle each other with, and yet they do not try for a rebellion either. Does that make one bit of sense? Why not just give weapons to everyone--as long as you have a hook for a hand and a detachable eye you'll be feared.
The gore in the film exists for pure gratuitous reasons. It's not entertaining to watch, even if you have a strong stomach. A couple years ago, "Sex and Zen" made good use of its near-pornographic images by making them a part of the plot, no matter how revealing. The filmmakers also made the film fun and entertaining, two things "Story of Ricky" is not.
Awhile back, I reviewed "The Wicked City," a Hong Kong film based off of a Japanese anime. In that review I said the film was a prime example of how much you loose when you transfer a cartoon (and anime of all things) to a live action big screen feature in a country that doesn't have a lot of change to spare. This isn't even touching the fact that cartoons exist in their own worlds of wizardry that were never meant to be adapted to live action, because the parallels between the two were too strong.
At least once, in a great while "The Wicked City" threw an interesting, satisfy special effect at us: "Story of Ricky" has not one to its blood, flesh torn, and gory list of hammy effects.
If you've ever wondered what gory kung fu flick--where a man's head explodes as its being karate-chopped from both angles--that plays on Comedy Central's "The Daily Show" opening credits--now you know.
Supposedly, most of the Hong Kong prints of this film are cut in some sort of fashion and after attacking Ringo Lam for the violent content of his films, I'm sure the Hong Kong censor boards had a hay day with this one. The new Japanese print supposedly (and I believe it) has all of the flesh, gore, and blood still intact, at least in one sense.