1974 - RETURN OF THE STREET FIGHTER aka Satsujin-ken

The first sequel to The Street Fighter is a very lazy film even as crappy sequels go.  The first third of the film's running time is taken up with flashbacks to the original film and has unending scenes of martial arts students training.  The film finally settles down into the story which is essentially the same plot as the first film, not unexpected I guess.

Sonny Chiba is back as Terry Sugury, who is still a Kung Fu tough guy ripping out his opponents eyes or throats, or kidneys or any other body part that he chooses.  I've yet to figure out if The Street Fighter is a good guy or a bad guy.  One minute he's killing off some guy for a Tokyo gangster and the next minute he's wreaking havoc on the American Mafia. 

I fully realize that this film was never going to be on the level of  Kurosawa's Yojimbo or Sanjuro.  But this is pretty crappy film making even for what is essentially a B level action film.   At least the first Street Fighter film was entertaining for it's over the top violence and Sonny Chiba's constant sneering. The best I can say for this film is that Sonny Chiba is still his very scary sneering self.

 

The film was written by Hajime Koiwa, the running time is 85 minutes