Sister Street Fighter (1974) July 1, 2008
Posted by Cal in : Action, 1970s films , trackbackDirector: Kazuhiko Yamaguchi Main Cast: Etsuko Shihomi, Masashi Ishibashi, Emi Hayakawa, Sonny Chiba Territory: Japan Production Company: Toei Company
I’ve been quite looking forward to seeing this series of films since seeing Etsuko Shihomi in action in the relatively weak final entry of the Street Fighter series. She was, for me, easily the best thing in that film, and I was wondering how she’d fare given top billing.
The usual problem of poor scriptwriting get things off to an inauspicious start when we see a stock shot of Hong Kong followed by a cop telling Koryu Lee (Shihomi) that her brother has gone missing in action while investigating a drug lord’s island fortress. I really find these films that don’t have plotting “foreplay” a real grind. There’s no introduction of character, no preamble, and basically no way for the viewer to engage in the film. The first part of the film is a collection of scenes and fights without much cohesion or meaning.
This is more or less countered, however, by the craziness of events later on. It’s evident the scriptwriters were more than a little familiar with Enter the Dragon, and Sister Street Fighter is a wacked-out version of the Bruce Lee film with a plethora of screen crazies. It’s hard to decide to whom the title of weirdest character should go, but I’d have to settle for a whole team – the Quentin Tarantino-sounding Amazon 7, who wear leopard skins, boxing boots, fishnets and white masks (well, presumably if you go out dressed like that you’re not going to want people to know who you are). There must be something weird in the air at the moment throwing all these Amazon women at me (see Fantasy Mission Force), but I’ll tell you one thing for sure – one of this gang is definitely not a woman!
Street Fighter stalwart Masashi Ishibashi appears as does Sonny Chiba himself, although neither in their previous roles. Sonny Chiba’s appearance here seems mainly to endorse the new franchise, but his scenes are some of the best of the film. That’s not to say Shihomi can’t handle herself well, it’s just that some of the fight scenes are so badly shot it draws the attention away from the action. When the camera’s wobbling around so much, it’s hard to focus on what’s going on. However, there are some gems here, including a blistering nunchaku duel that ups the adrenaline level nicely. But this doesn’t seem to quite resolve itself as the scene ends rather abruptly and her foe doesn’t show up again.
When Koryu discovers her brother’s being used as a pharmaceutical guinea pig, along with the plan to smuggle drugs in wigs (and the less said about that the better), she decides to storm the drug lord’s fortress and this starts the big climax. Again, while competent (if a little bizarre and fragmented), the culmination isn’t quite as exciting as I’d hoped, with a very strange wirework finale. What I really loved though was the brilliant show-stopping back-to-front man (fans will know what I mean) that was hilariously sick.
It definitely gets more fun as it goes on, and the menagerie of weirdoes on display will ensure it will get an occasional viewing, but Sister Street Fighter is all surface and no depth, and feels every inch the speedy production it was.
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