THE STORY OF RICKY (aka RIKI-OH)
PLOT-In 2001, Ricky Ho is sent to a hellish prison for killing an opium dealer. He kicks everyone's ass.
VIOLENCE-The violence in this film is what separates it from all other Kung-Fu flicks. Imagine if Peter Jackson's DEAD ALIVE was a martial arts film, and you've got the basics of what this movie is all about. In graphic and extremely gory detail, faces are sliced off, eyeballs are gouged out (or fly out), heads are punched in or obliterated completedly, guts are pulled from stomachs, limbs are chopped off, people explode, and a couple guys are turned into ground beef by a big machine.
SEX/NUDITY-A few guys butts are shown in the shower. This is a man's movie, though.
WHY I LIKED IT-As if I needed to explain that! One thing I always loved were cartoons. The way the characters got beaten up, blown to pieces, shot full of holes, and came right back in the next frame. It was funny. So, it should come as no surprise that my favorite films have been the ones that are most like those cartoons. RICKY is so over-the-top and relentless, yet so much fun to watch. It's a real crowd-pleaser. When you watch it alone, you feel like yelling to your neighbors to come and see it. It's unbelievable.
DOWNSIDE-While most of the gore effects are convincing enough to warrant several "rewinds", there are several that are laughably poor. Perhaps, though, it's a good thing. If the gags were too realistic, vomiting may well occur.
MEMORABLE SCENES-Ricky beats the shit out of a tattooed guy in the prison yard. Shouting, "We die together!", the guy cuts open his own belly and rips out his intestines, which he then uses in an attempt to strangle Ricky.
NOTES-The version I saw was dubbed in English, but the tape was letterboxed. On the cover, it said this version was "uncut and uncensored".