Rage of Honor Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		3.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.0
Overall		2.5

Rage of Honor Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman July 19, 2016

For a brief if questionably shining moment in the eighties, it looked like Sho Kosugi just might be one of the biggest Asian martial arts stars to invade American movie houses. Sho’s filmography had a number of interesting action adventure entries during this time period, including Enter the Ninja, Revenge of the Ninja, Ninja III: The Domination and Nine Deaths of the Ninja, films whose titles give a rather inescapable clue as to the sort of character Kosugi tended to play. Even when “ninja” wasn’t part of the title, as in Pray for Death, ninja elements were still front and center. Those elements may be slightly more circumspect in Rage of Honor, the film Kosugi made directly after Pray for Death, but that’s not to say that they’re completely removed. Rage of Honor isn’t exactly a model of narrative density, and to be perfectly frank Kosugi isn’t a thespian of Laurence Olivier-esque proclivities, but the film moves along at such a manic pace most of the time that few will probably care. What few plot mechanics there are, all obviously meant to simply get the film to its next fight sequence, involve drug smuggling and the efforts of kinda sorta cop (he resigns after his superior tells him to stop interfering—yeah, right) Shiro Tanaka (Sho Kosugi) to avenge the brutal murder of his partner. It’s all relentlessly silly, but director Gordon Hessler has a flair for set pieces, and the film is often undeniably exciting even if it fails to register very strongly with either the intellect or the emotions.

Rage of Honor wastes little time setting up its first hyperbolic action sequence, with a party on a yacht suddenly turning into a shootout when several Drug Enforcement Agency agents, including Shiro, make their presence known. The chief bad guy tries to get away in a speedboat, but the fast thinking (and moving) Shiro follows in another speedboat, finally taking out the villain with what every well equipped DEA agent keeps handy with him at all times—a ninja disc. The resulting conflagration causes problems with Shiro’s higher ups, though Shiro’s partner and best buddy isn’t concerned about the fallout. Seemingly later that night, the partner tries to further their investigation into a South American drug ring, getting captured and killed in the process. Shiro, who’s indulging in a rare night out with his girlfriend Jennifer Lane (Robin Evans), gets a voicemail from his buddy, but arrives at the scene too late to save him, though not to late to get a few clues as to the killer’s identity.

What would therefore seem to be a more or less straight ahead revenge thriller takes some head scratching turns along the way, visiting several far flung locales and working an almost absurd number of sidebars into its overall story arc. The film’s “plot” careens wildly from set piece to set piece, and while those set pieces are admittedly often fantastically exciting, the bridging material is increasingly chaotic and nonsensical, leading to an increasing feeling of lethargy, or at least bewilderment. Part of the dilution of energy is due to reliance on tired plot tropes, including having the sadistic bad guy Havlock (Lewis Van Bergen) kidnap Jennifer, even as the film simultaneously wants to have Shiro combating indigenous tribes, an element which otherwise might have provided a stylistic jolt to the proceedings.

Kosugi is almost somnambulant through the non-action portions of the film, and unfortunately Evans doesn’t work up much energy as the girlfriend, either. Luckily, the film has one completely gonzo performance to its credit, that of Lewis Van Bergen as the unhinged Havlock. From his first scenes gently applying a flaming poker to a policeman’s chest, to later equally over the top interchanges, Van Bergen creates a completely believable psychopath at the center of a generally unbelievable story. Rage of Honor may be “minor” Kosugi, but it’s “major” Van Bergen, and those who like to see generally underappreciated character actors tear into a role may well get a kick out of this particular performance.

Rage of Honor Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Rage of Honor is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Arrow Video with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.85:1 (bookending credits sequences are in 2.35:1). Arrow's booklet contains the following information on the transfer:

Rage of Honor is presented in its original theatrical aspect ratio of 1.85:1 and was transferred from a 35mm interpositive struck from the original 35mm negative by MGM. The front and end titles appear in widescreen 2.35:1, as these are how the film elements were prepared by MGM for reasons of "title safe" issues.

Putting aside the somewhat questionable use of "title safe" for a wider aspect ratio, this transfer looks like it was culled from an older MGM master, as evidenced by a number of issues, including wobble during credits and some less than consistent grain management. Elements have some noticeable damage, including recurrent scratches that are often purplish in hue (see screenshot 12). A number of sequences have a pretty roughhewn appearance that contains rather chunky looking grain (see screenshots 8, 9 and 10), something that tends to mask detail and fine detail. Some sharpening looks like it was applied, perhaps in an attempt to overcome these deficits. When the film ventures out into bright daylight and close-ups are employed, detail spikes noticeably (see screenshot 3). The palette also shows signs of age, with suffusion being at best acceptable and at worst kind of drab looking. Everything here is watchable, and there's a decently organic appearance to things, but those expecting a knock out restoration will probably be at least somewhat disappointed with the results.

Rage of Honor Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Rage of Honor's LPCM 2.0 track is often quite robust, offering good support for elements like the thwack of hand to hand combat, eruptions of gunfire or even the occasional explosion. Kosugi's monotone doesn't offer much in the way of opportunities for dynamic range in dialogue moments (this said with tongue in cheek, hopefully obviously), but the track always sounds clear and at times surprisingly forceful.

Rage of Honor Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Sho and Tell Part 2 (1080p; 17:48) is a continuation of the interview started on the Arrow release of Pray for Death (and in fact this part includes a reprise of a section of the first part).


• Stelvio Cipriano Interview (1080p; 2:47) offers some brief and not especially illuminating comments from the composer.


• American Ninjas (1080p; 7:34) recounts various characters and features writer Chris Poggiali.


• Sho Koshuji Trailer Gallery includes:

  Enter the Ninja (1981) (1080p; 2:53)

  Revenge of the Ninja (1983) (1080p; 1:41)

  Pray for Death (1985) (480p; 2:11)

  Rage of Honor (1987) (1080p; 1:35)

Additionally, the typically well done Arrow insert booklet contains essays and stills.

Rage of Honor Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Rage of Honor isn't a great film, and some might argue that it's not even a very good one, but it has a number of nicely staged set pieces, and I personally found Lewis Van Bergen almost hypnotic as the unhinged Havlock. Video has some issues but audio sounds fine for those considering a purchase.