Rage of Honor

Please do not confuse this title with RAGE AND HONOR starring Cynthia Rothrock. This martial arts / action film is still not pumped up to the limit, but it did deliver some occasional surprises. Our Asian action man, Tanaka, can fist-fight and use a gun simultaneously. Not only that, he also carries a wide arsenal of weapons including ninja stars and bombs, all of which makes this worth an evening rental. Even more, he does about a couple of cool action stunts that rival (but not as good as) Jackie Chan once in a while. It's a fairly solid 80s actioner because of these features. Let me warn you, though. This movie is kind of lame and it won't hold your interest after one viewing. Solid choreography carries RAGE OF HONOR above the average mark.

Boisterously unleashed not too long after after the explosive wake from Ninja extravaganza 'Pray For Death' had barely subsided, solid action director Hessler renewed his historically successful collaboration with iconic 80s martial arts sensation Shô Kosugi whose steely gaze, natty Ninja threads, fleet-fisted fighting style, and deadly Shuriken-slinging expertise had Iron-fistedly galvanized the global Ninja craze, and in his bruisingly action-packed B-Movie Bond 'Rage of Honor',Katana-cool, Icepick-deadly, Buddha righteous, thug trashing cop Shiro Tanaka (Sho Kosugi) is darkly embroiled in the murderous machinations of sadistic drug kingpin Havlock (Lewis Van Bergen), with his partner dead, girlfriend kidnapped, capable writers Robert Short, Wallace Bennett, and no less competent film-maker Hessler robustly construct a rewardingly blood-thirsty arena for our Teflon-toed, panther-quick, gravity-dodging, gangster-goring avenger Kosugi to righteously revenge his fallen partner, and free his bound lady love from the nefarious clutches of his merciless foe, whose diabolically extended reach stretches poisonously from the sweetly sublime vistas of Singapore to the harsh, mercenary-infested jungles of South America! With plentiful, excitingly choreographed fight scenes, and blazingly balletic gun battles, 'Rage of Honor' has all the requisite blood-pumping, head-knockingly heroic hallmarks of a Shô Kosugi vengeance-fuelled VHS-era classic!

This movie is very 80s. It has agents, ninjas, military, evil druglords, jungle tribes... it reminded me of every action movie from James Bond to Rambo to American Ninja.

It also has bad acting, uninteresting characters and somehow boring flow of story. I can't give a really good rating because I felt a bit bored most of the time. But when the action starts, then it gets good. The action scenes may not be the best possible quality but they have certain coolness, with nice stunts, crazy ninja weapons, and enough explosions. I also liked hard rock/synthwave kind of music which seals the very 80s feel.

So, this is not a movie you watch for the story, but if you have a soft spot for 80s' action movies it has a decent dose of that ridiculousness you probably yearn for.

A Japanese cop, Shiro (Sho Kosugi), and his partner Ray are after a bunch of drug dealers. But they are betrayed by an insider and Ray is killed. Shiro follows the murderer, a sadistic drug lord, up to Singapore.

This is director Gordon Hessler's follow-up to "Pray for Death" (1985), also starring Sho Kosugi. The general consensus seems to be that the best Hessler-Kosugi team-up was "Pray for Death", but I respectfully disagree. I feel they stepped it up a notch or two for "Rage of Honor", and I really appreciate the James Bond-as-a-ninja theme.

Some people may take issue with Hessler's direction. Cool A** Cinema notes, "Unfortunately, the action sequences suffer the same fate as most American martial arts pictures of the day. There's very few master shots and far too many close ups." That point is well taken, but for those looking for an action film rather than a martial arts film, this may not be easily noticeable. No one should be expecting Bruce Lee.

The Arrow Video blu-ray is not packed with extras, but is far from bare bones and does include a brand new interview with star Sho Kosugi on "Rage of Honor" and the later stages of his film career. We also have an interview with Stelvio Cipriani, the film's composer. The first pressing includes a collector s booklet featuring new writing on the film and an extract from Kosugi's upcoming book. And, of course, you are getting the film in high definition, looking far crisper and cleaner than we ever got in the glory days of VHS -- you can actually see the individual drops of splashing water.

this Shô Kosugi movie is better than his previous movie,Pray for Death.at least i think it is.the acting is better,there's more of a story,and the fight sequences are much better.this one is also faster paced.and there's a bit of intrigue,which Pray for Death didn't have.it doesn't have any slow moments.of course it still has the usual two dimensional characters,and it's still not his best movie,but it's definitely watchable.i would watch it again.it's still a revenge flick at it's core though,as most of Shô Kosugi's movies are.but it should keep you entertained for just over ninety minutes,especially if you're a Shô Kosugi fan.for me,Rage of Honor is a 6/10