In World War II, Soh (Sonny Chiba) has served in China (where he also
learned Shaolin Kung Fu), and when Japan has finally lost the war, he
couldn't accept defeat.
Back in Japan, life is grim, but Soh seees himself as defender of the
poor and supressed - especially young Kiku, whom he saves from
prostitution, her little brother Kimio and his orphan friends ... but
because of his short temper and his fighting skills, he gets into conflict
witht he law and the occupying forces ever more often ... until he is
about to be sentenced to death. But the police chief sees that underneath
his violent outside hides a true patriot, so he lets him escape, under the
condition that Soh never comes back again.
Soh moves to another city and starts a fighting school, and soon has a
legion of followers - but he is a thorn in the eye of other fighting
schools, who detest his school for teaching a Chinese fighting technique.
Of course, fights ensue. But things really get ugly when the Yakuza joins
in the fun. They rape Soh's female students without being punished, chop
off the arm of his friend, and do all sorts of unpleasent stuff ... but
Soh retaliates every time, and his retribution always outdoes his
opponents' actions in violence.
In the end, the Yakuza try to flatten the poor district of the town
with bulldozers, but with their bare hands, Soh and his students not only
put an end to this, but now Soh ras his revenge on the Yakuza bosses big
time ... and in the end, hardly one of the gang remains alive ...
A weird film: In part a compassionate portrait of the hardships of post
war Japan - including rape and women forced into prostitution -, on the
other hand a very violent martial arts film ... and somehow these two
directions of the film don't go well together, the realistic depiction and
the macho fantasy actually seem rather at odds.
That's not to say the film is all bad, there is some violent,
over-the-top but well made action in it that keeps one entertained (if at
all this is your cup of tea), It's just too flawed as a whole to be real
good.
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