When Just Getting Even Is Not Enough!
Starring: Sho Kosugi, Lewis Van Bergen, Robin Evans, Gerry Gibson, Chip Lucia
Martial Arts Choreography: Sho Kosugi
Special Weapons Design: Sho Kosugi
Director: Gordon Hessler
1987 | 91 Minutes | Rated R
“You’re looking for revenge!” – Sterling
“No, just honor.” – Shiro Tanaka
As I continue to expand on my Sho Kosugi base I caught Rage of Honor OnDemand. And with a nonsensical movie title like that how could I go wrong.
Revenge is in order after police officer Shiro Tanaka’s (Sho Kosugi) partner is brutally killed by a ring of drug lords. It is now his duty to chase these men around the world in order to pay his slain partner the honor and respect that he deserves.
The plot device of having Shiro Tanaka traveling around the world to take down drug lords seems to be the reasoning behind throwing Sho Kosugi into random action scenes. From warehouses to grass huts, from dark alleys to waterfalls – he’ll go anywhere to avenge his partner.
How awesome is Sho Kosugi? He delivers one of the best stone face expressions of any action star. He delivers his lines like a real samurai. He kicks serious ass and when given the chance he can choreograph fights with the best of them. If you were a bad guy in the 80s, there would be little more terrifying than seeing Sho’s face popping up from behind a tree, wall or barrel. But, then again, you would probably never see him coming.
Sho shows (see what I did there?) off his amazing ninja weapon skills and is even officially credited with inventing some of the weapons in the movie. The main weapon that comes to mind is the clunky computer chipped ninja star which essentially causes it to explode on impact. But what’s cooler than that is the saw blade Sho ninja star throws into an opponent’s head. Ya gotta do what ya gotta do when you’re out of traditional and explosive ninja stars.
So, this all kinda reads like a love letter to Sho Kosugi and that’s really all that I got out of Rage of Honor. The story is paper thin as are the characters but Sho Kosugi is awesome so… all is well. Honestly, Rage of Honor isn’t as good as Revenge of the Ninja was but it is still pretty dang entertaining. It’s definitely worth watching.
Action Movie Fanatix 