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Tsurugi (Sonny Chiba) is maybe the best, most ruthless thug in the business,
an expert in karate & more than able to break people free from death row
& not even shying away from killing his employers or selling them into
prostitution should they refuse to pay up. But when the Chinese mafia wants to
hire him to kidnap Sarai (Yutaka Nakajima), sole heiress to the world's third
largest oil company, but refuse to pay him the big advance he demands, he not
only walks out on them, but lets himself be hired as Sarai's bodyguard by
Karate master Masaoka (Masafumi Suzuki). Sarai of
course doesn't like him at all at firt because of his rather rude manners, but
soon comes to rely on his abilities as a thug. However, since pretty much
everybody in Sarai's company is in on the mafia's scheme, it's an easy task for
them to distract Tsurugi long enough - by crushing his car with him in it - to
snatch Sarai. Of course Tsurugi has soon picked up her trail again, &
even though outmanned by the mafia's fighters, he can free her - even if that
means he becomes the gangstter's prisoner himself. Then though his incompetent
but loveable sidekick Rakuda (Waichi Yamada) blows the whole thing hen he wants
to come rescue him but instead has to betray Sarai's whereabouts to the
gangsters in order to save his friends hide ... who is almost killed anyhow ... Not
one to be taken back by setbacks, Tsurugi has soon picked up Sarai'S trail
again & closes in on her on a big oil-tanker where she is about to be
forced to sign over her company. Tsurugi of course fights his way through is
adversaries, but they do have some aces up their sleeves as well, in form of
karate master Shikenbaru (Masashi Ishibashi), whose sister Tsurugi has sold into prostitution & who now
wants not only revenge but also prove his own skills by defeating Tsurugi. But
Tsurugi is not one to be easily beaten, even thogh the gangsters shoot at him,
wound him with a knife & try every other dirty trick in the book - much to
the dislike of Tsurugi's Karate-adversary, who wanted a fair fight. In the
end though, Tsurugi has defeated everybody & ultimately saved Sarai, even
if he's now more dead than alive himself ... Street Fighter
certainly doesn't feature a good, original let alone inventive story, or
interesting characters, & even the action, while competently choreographed,
isn't really standing out. What sets this movie apart though is the
uncompromising brutality of its action, not justified by its hero's lofty
goals: Tsurugi often enough clearly states he's in it for the money, & to
achieve his goals he kills, rapes & sells women into prostitution without
so much as flinching an eye, & his almost animal-like behaviour does only
emphasize his ruthlessness ... & this is something that makes this little
b-actioner rather outstanding again, for better or worse.
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