Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		2.0
Audio		2.5
Extras		2.5
Overall		2.5

Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Brian Orndorf January 26, 2015

There’s plenty of bizarre cinema out there to sample, yet few have the capacity to both horrify and delight quite like 1991’s “Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky.” Based on a Japanese manga that reveled in violence, the film adaptation isn’t one to let fans down, ordering up a buffet of carnage that includes impalements, disembowelments, beheadings, skinnings, and a considerable loss of limbs. A wildly over-the-top effort, “The Story of Ricky” is also aware of its extremity, often caught braiding emotional sincerity with cinematic absurdity. The narrative does take a few naps as it slowly unfolds, but storytelling isn’t a top priority here. Director Lam Nai-choi is more enlivened by the challenge of orchestrating macabre antics between feuding characters, splashing blood and screams all over the frame as every martial arts-based encounter turns into an occasion to detail excessive gore. There’s a certain thrill in viewing such goofball hostility, and the feature isn’t afraid to go absolutely bonkers when necessary.

In the futureworld of 2001, prisons have been privatized, allowing cruelty and lawlessness to run rampant. While under the care of the vicious Assistant Warden (Mei Shang Fan), one particular facility is ruled by the Gang of Four, a pack of brutes with various martial arts skills who keep the inmates in line using all manner of intimidation and violence. New to the prison is Riki-Oh (Sui-Wong Fan), a hardened man with superhuman strength and five bullets still lodged in his chest, sentenced to ten years behind bars after killing the drug dealers responsible for the death of his beloved girlfriend back home. Unable to sit idly by and witness the maiming of the weak, Riki-Oh steps into battle, challenging the Gang of Four in a series of fights that only bolster the newcomer’s reputation, gradually revealing a drug trafficking scheme set up by Warden Sugiyama (Ka-Kui Ho), who isn’t about to let the hero destroy everything he’s worked for.

It helps to keep in mind that the production is well aware of the material’s potential for exaggeration, trying to keep up with a manga sensibility that permits bloodshed on a grand scale, celebrating the closed-fist spirit of the source material. In many ways, “The Story of Ricky” is one of the most successful comic book adaptations to date, unafraid to go after a level of brutality fans are expecting, ordering up a series of deadly encounters that fail to censor anything when it comes to Riki-Oh’s displays of aggressive self-defense and the violent habits of the inmates, with the Gang of Four keeping a close eye on those who dare to share sensitive information on their activities, which includes a poppy field in a corner of the prison, fueling the drug trade in a facility established to punish lawbreakers.

“The Story of Ricky” slips into pure savagery when it begins to explore the lead character’s experiences behind bars, presenting a level of violence that even made it a fixture on American television, with a quick clip of a head being smashed by bare hands serving as an introductory graphic during the “Five Questions” segment on the first incarnation of “The Daily Show.” The production isn’t content with simple brutality, transforming the work into opera at times, finding a particularly determined opponent using his own intestines to strangle Riki-Oh, a stray dog kicked in half, a face shredded by a hand plane, and bodies turned into hamburger during a climatic fight in the prison kitchen. This manipulation of reality is good for shock value, watching the hero punch through stomachs, shatter rival hands with his own fist of fury, and perform emergency surgery on himself mid-fight. It’s broad but heroically sold, adding a hint of Eastwoodian swagger to secure screen style, while Riki-Oh’s tortured past is returned to through flashbacks, studying the development of his strength and the loss of his girlfriend, who, for reasons not entirely understood, elects to fling herself off an apartment roof after eluding capture by dim-witted drug dealers. Looking for real-world motivation for anything in this picture is a fool’s errand, but that one sticks out as particularly baffling.

“The Story of Ricky” has long stretches of grisly encounters, but it’s also a martial arts demo at times, highlighting plenty of wirework and fight choreography to juice up weirdly sluggish pace. Characterizations are overblown (we’re talking Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade balloon big), but the story doesn’t offer much in the way of verve, often caught slowing down to survey unnecessary introspection, and the addition of Warden Sugiyama doesn’t restore the direction of Riki-Oh’s mission as it should. Granted, it’s hard to lose an audience with the likes of Assistant Warden, who stocks porn in his office, eats raw meat for lunch, and keeps mints in his glass eye, but “The Story of Ricky” threatens full-stop on occasion, wheezing to a third act showdown that, wisely, reignites a passion for bloodshed.

Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

To those expecting a competent HD restoration of "The Story of Ricky" for its BD debut, you have my sympathies. The AVC encoded image (1.78:1 aspect ratio) presentation is an upconvert job, offering limited to no fine detail and mild haloing. Colors are largely washed away, leaving behind muddy hues that show only faint stability. Textures are missing from costuming and close-ups, while gore zone visits are lacking the particulars of craftsmanship. Noise clouds the image at times, and the print, while mostly intact, shows some scratches and speckling. Crush dominates, losing delineation with prisoner clothing and evening showdowns. Granted, I don't think "The Story of Ricky" has ever looked crisp and neat, but this BD doesn't even make an effort to bring the feature to filmic life.

Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The default track for "The Story of Ricky" is the English 5.1 DTS-HD MA dub, which attempts to create a circular listening experience by adding appropriate atmospherics to the rears, hoping to liven up a mix with artificiality that doesn't blend with the original track. Dialogue exchanges are dulled but certainly intelligible, while scoring is supportive but never distinct. Sound effects tend to rule, with whips, cracks, and groans introducing some energy, but nothing that breaks through the overall muted range.

Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Interview (19:38, SD) with actor Siu-Wong Fan is undated, but appears to have been conducted in the early 2000s. It's a rather extensive chat about the star's early career aspirations, where he followed his father into the movie business and grabbed attention from producers through his martial arts skills. Discussing "The Story of Ricky," the interviewee explores the gore content of the effort and its comic book origins, also sharing the feature's surprising endurance as fans continue to celebrate the strange picture.

• "Riki with a Shotgun" (1:59, HD) is a pointless recap of the plot from director Jason Eisener, who evokes the spirit of the movie by receiving numerous punches to the face while speaking.

• And a Theatrical Trailer (4:25, HD), which directly compares the artistry of the manga to the movie, is included.

Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

"The Story of Ricky" has pretty much everything one needs from a B-movie: a hero encased in concrete, the forced ingestion of razor blades before a firm face-slapping, and a snot-slicked demon thingee who pops up to destroy Riki-Oh in the grand finale. It's a wild picture, ideal cult cinema fodder, and an endeavor that's immensely entertaining as it strives to semi-satirize action films while actively participating in the formula. Did I mention that Riki-Oh is also an accomplished flutist? "The Story of Ricky" is practically bottomless with its wonderful ludicrousness.