Rage of Honor (1987) Reviews

• Expect a couple of neat surprises in this one.

  emm1998-11-23

  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.

• Highly entertaining!

  HaemovoreRex2006-05-13

  The always enjoyable to watch Sho Kosugi stars in this highly entertaining martial arts actioner as Shiro Tanaka, a drug enforcement officer (and ostensibly a ninja to boot!) who swears an oath of revenge after his partner is brutally murdered by a highly organised narcotics gang who are headed by a particularly sadistic (and scruffy looking!) fellow played by Lewis Van Bergen. Plot wise the film doesn't get anymore advanced than this and it has to be said that the direction is rather muddled to say the very least but frankly who cares – people watch this kind of movie for the action content and in this regards this movie certainly delivers it by the bucket load! Fights break out roughly every few minutes with our man Sho delivering some typically cool moves and utilising some mean looking weapons against his various foes. Throw into the mix some ninja and hey presto you have a great hour and a half's entertainment! Solid stuff from the incomparable Kosugi yet again who despite clearly struggling with his English throughout, nonetheless carries his usual puissant screen presence. Highly recommended for action junkies!

• The MGM 3-pack has a somewhat widescreen version

  udar552012-03-02

  Sho Kosugi re-teamed with PRAY FOR DEATH (1985) director Gordon Hessler for this international action flick. Shiro (Kosugi) is a Drug Investigation Bureau (D.I.B.?) agent who seeks revenge after his partner is murdered by drug-lord Havelock (Lewis Van Bergen). He quits the force and flies to Buenos Aires to get his revenge. Oh, I'm sorry, he rages his honor. Shiro is apparently not the smartest cookie as he brings his girlfriend along and she is quickly kidnapped, resulting in a huge chase through the jungles of Argentina. This was Kosugi trying to expand his screen image a bit, resulting in a character that is sort of like James Bond with some ninja tendencies. He doesn't have Bond's instincts though. For example, the "good guys" send a chopper to pick him up and 6 deadly ninjas pop out to kill him. Shiro dispatches of them, yet still follows the instructions of the "good guys" to "take the disc to the abandoned factory" (how he knew which factory is beyond me). The action is very well staged by Hessler, who gives the production a really big budget look. The last half hour is pretty much fighting and shootouts non-stop. The MGM DVD I have have (part of a ninja 3-pack with American NINJA and REVENGE OF THE NINJA) is frustrating in that it starts the film widescreen for the credits and then jumps to 1.85 for the movie. But at least it is better than the full frame single edition release MGM previously put out.

• The VHS Days are Back!

  gavin69422016-02-25

  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.

• "You have to remember that Shiro is Japanese"

  hwg1957-102-2657042017-07-09

  'Rage of Honor' has a plot one has seen hundreds of times with stock characters and dialogue that goes from the clichéd to the absurd. It does have some attractive South American scenery though and a good music score from the prolific Stelvio Cipriani. It also has Sho Kosugi who may not be able to act but who can do martial arts satisfactorily. The last half hour is mainly action and it is quite exciting though someone must start teaching evil henchmen how to shoot straight. Lewis Van Bergen as the main villain Havlock and Robin Evans as the love interest Jennifer Lane are uninteresting. Not a film to watch twice.