The Street Fighter's Last Revenge (1974)

This film seems to divide a lot of Street Fighter fans. There are a lot of changes from the originals, but for me, it kept most of everything that was great. The action/fight scenes are still magnificent. Really showing off the talents of its stars. The plot is still simple but gets complicated with the obligatory double crossings. This film lacks a real awesome villain. With some illusionist with lasers and a sombrero, he's hardly threatening. Especially since he can't land a punch. Luckily, there are plenty of other great characters, my favorite being Reiko Ike as Aya. A real tragic character whom uses her sexuality to get what ever she wants, whether it be double crossing, or for her own security. Her downfall is her paranoia that everyone wants to kill her. Some people will be perturbed by the constant use of masks and gadgets, as it takes on more of a spy film rather than that of an assassin. Though it's true the violence is toned down, there are still some flourishes of Tsurugi's malicious killer instinct.

This review is based on the English language dubbed version entitled "STREET FIGHTER'S LAST REVENGE". The original non-dubbed version is almost certainly better but I have not seen it and don't want anyone to think my review is for the original film. In most cases, the original film is highly re-edited and the plots are often changed so it wouldn't be fair to consider this review to be that for Gyakushû! Satsujin Ken--which was actually released years before the dubbed version.As for the plot, here it is--though most fans really are more concerned with the action and not the adequate plot: Chiba does a job for the mob and they insanely try to cheat them! Don't they KNOW this means they're in for a major butt-kicking!? Well, the rest of the film is pretty much what you'd expect and the only surprise is that in one of his many fights, Chiba is beaten!! Of course, there's a rematch, but still the idea of the Street Fighter losing to anyone is pretty unique! Had I never seen the previous Street Fighter films, I might have enjoyed this film a lot more. The action is pretty good--though unfortunately not nearly as good as it was in the first two Street Fighter films. Some of the original brutality was missing (though the crematorium scene is pretty horrific) and the plot seems pretty poor--especially in regard to the scuzzy lady who seems to again and again hurt people and no one seems to notice that she's BAD!! Even at the end, when the nasty skank is killed, Sonny Chiba's character oddly seems sad to see her die! Frankly, he should have celebrated like the Muchkins did when the Wicked Witch of the East died!!By the way, the evil lady likes to use sex as her main weapon--so don't be surprised when her breasts keep popping across the screen. Parents should consider this before letting kids watch the film. Of course, I think I'd be less worried about my kids seeing this than I would be if they saw all the violence, so it's NOT a kid-friendly film.

The third Sonny Chiba film about the Tsurugi Takuza character continues the trend towards a more sympathetic hero and a less violent/gory film. As such, although it probably has the best story of the three, it's by far the least entertaining. There's virtually none of the gruesome brutality of the original, and Tsurugi is a much less complex and ambiguous man, played with less animal intensity by Chiba. I guess they didn't understand what made the first film so special? There's generally less action in the film, and the fight scenes feel a bit lacklustre when they do occur. Chiba still busts out some cool moves and there are some impressively long takes, but it feels a bit like they want to get the fights out of the way so they can focus on the story (rather than vice versa, as it should have been :p). Etsuko Shiomi returns as a new character who shows some promise, but she's mostly wasted. I hope the SISTER STREET FIGHTER spin off films in which she stars are better.Maybe 3 STREET FIGHTER films in as many nights is just too much Chiba for me... but more likely, 3 STREET FIGHTER films in one year was just too much Chiba for Chiba and director Shigehiro Ozawa. It's not a bad film in its own right, but it's certainly disappointing when compared to the original. Oh well, c'est la vie :)EDIT: from reading the other reviews on IMDb it's clear that the English dubbed version of the film RADICALLY changes the story... the tape and the plot have nothing to do with heroin! Further evidence that dubbed films should be avoided at all costs!

If you love THE STREET FIGHTER (and you probably do if you looked up this entry) don't even bother with this final entry in the series. This one sucks out loud, and has only one decent fight scene which lasts for about a minute. Our hero now has taken on a more "MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE"-type persona since he now is a master of disguise (???). Skip this.