Ok, let's make this clear - I have seen some really crazy shit in my long B-movie viewing career, but I have never, EVER seen anything so completely off the wall, what-the-hell-did-I-just-see crazy as Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky.
The story, such as it is, is thusly: By 2001 A.D. capitalistic countries have privatized all government organizations. Prisons, like car-parks, have become franchised business…..”
Our hero Riki (or Ricky, depending on the translation you're going by) has been sentenced to 10 years in one of these OCP-ish prisons for manslaughter and assault. The jail is controlled by a very powerful warden (not sure what the qualifier is on that), followed by the assistant warden (who has James Bond-ish Supervillian hooks for one of his hands. Oh, and a glass eye that doubles as a breath-mint container. And yes, you read correctly)
Riki's new home is divided into four sections conveniently named the North block, South block, and so on. Each of these blocks is controlled by a tough as nails thug, collectively known as the Gang of Four. And it's not too long after Riki's arrival that he leaps to the defense of a old man in the shower, attracting the attentions of the Warden and his minions. Soon Riki has to fight off wave after wave of attackers, each one getting more and more bizarre and each fight getting more and more bloody until the you-have-to-see-it-to-believe-it climax involving the Incredible Hulk and a meat grinder.
Just to get a taste of what you're getting into, let us recap just one fight - Riki is in the prison courtyard, forced into a fight against Hai, a big tattoo and muscled brute of a man. A quick exchange of blows and Hai throws powdered glass into Riki's eyes and pulls one of those "That's not a knife" knives out of nowhere and cut's Riki's arm, severing his tendons.
The blind Riki uses his kung fu to bust a water main, washing the glass out of his eyes (putting aside the fact that you could remove the paint off the side of houses with a spray that pressurized, let alone washing crushed glass from your eyes) and then delivers a blow to Hai's skull that pops his eyeball out - like completely out of his head and across the prison yard where it is promptly eaten by the waiting crows (apparently this is a common occurrence and they know a good meal ticket when they see it). Riki then ties his slashed tendons together (what kind of knot would you use? Square or Granny?), regaining the full use of his hand again.
Hai, realizing that he faces the superior opponent, kills himself by slicing his belly open with his knife - but before he dies, Hai leaps up and tries to STRANGLE RIKI WITH HIS OWN INTESTINES! Riki then delivers the death blow by crushing Hai's head with one mighty punch (complete with real time X-ray cutaway so you can see every agonizing detail).
Seriously, imagine a Jackie Chan movie where every single blow landed caused the target to swell up and explode in a fountain of blood, and you're in the neighborhood of Riki-Oh. Crushed heads, exploding bodies, impaling on chunks of broken glass, exposed brains, eyeball popping, skinning alive, decapitation and disembowelment - the violence goes so far over the top that we're watching a live action comic book or something. This is more slapstick than real applicable violence.
As an added bonus, the movie moves right along at a pretty brisk pace. We'll get some kind of random act of gratuitous violence at least once ever 10 minutes, sprinkled with people talking bits and some flashbacks of character development.. Riki is the only one here who gets any sort of backstory. Everyone else in the movie is a walking, talking, breathing stereotype devoid of background, personality or motivation other than "Kill Riki! NOW!"
As you can probably guess, the plot of Riki-Oh is rather thin. Wafer thing is more accurate, a series of plot points collected together to hang the bloody carnage on. I hesitate to call it a kung fu film because of its minimal fight choreography. It's not really a horror film despite having more blood than the entire run of the Friday the 13th movies combined because its not all that scary.
Whatever it may be, it is very definitely - well, I hesitate to call it good - fun and entertaining. Whether or not it's a GOOD movie I'll leave as an exercise to the viewer.
THE DVD -
Riki-Oh has a long and colorful history of releases from crap barely public domain releases to really nice two disc affairs (the Region 2 release from Hong Kong Legends is exceptionally nice). The most common release for R1 is from Media Blasters, and sports an uncut widescreen ratio. The source is in pretty good shape, with just the occasional hint of scratches and grain. The colors are really good looking, with a nice solid crimson color to the blood. Overall, it's a great mastering job from Media Blasters
THE EXTRAS -
If you can, seek out the R2 version, with a ton of extras and commentary and stuff. The Media Blasters DVD is considerably less packed, with a bilingual story synopsis, cast and crew credits, a talent bio for Fan Siu Wong and an English theatrical trailer plus trailers for the Magnificent Butchers, Duel to the Death and Last Hurrah for Chivalry.
THE BOTTOM LINE -
The Story of Ricky is a flick that isn't for everyone. There's not enough martial arts for Kung Fu fans, there's not enough action for the hard core, and some people will probably be put off by the parade of constant and excessive violence. However, for those of you who like your midnight movies wet and juicy, then Riki-Oh is right up your alley.
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