Sho Kosugi's post Cannon career was a horrible misfire!
Added 10/19/2009
Shame on MGM for putting this terrible movie out on DVD and not NINJA III THE DOMINATION. This is a perfect example when sometimes a bigger budget cannot save a film that can be mishandled by a production team with no vision or talent. After watching PRAY FOR DEATH(1985) and RAGE OF HONOR(1987) in 2009, it's obvious that Trans World Entertainment was more interested in capitalizing on the 80's ninja craze and the results were disastrous. It's sad because if Sho Kosugi's martial arts talent were better utilized, he should have continued the streak of entertaining ninja action movies after his time with Cannon films. I'll just give a brief overview of what went wrong with the film at hand and some minor problems with the DVD itself.
MGM decided to be cheap and release the DVD full screen which cropped out a lot of the action on the sides. This was a mistake because the Cannon movies were shot open-matte so full screen is perfectly fine for those DVD's but Trans World obviously shot Widescreen. Second problem, the soundtrack was not mixed correctly. When I play this DVD on my surround sound, the background music sounds muffled and I can barely hear it. When I play it on my TV/DVD player with no speakers, all the sound is in sync. There are no special features but a lifeless theatrical trailer is included. Normally, the trailers are the most deceiving aspect of marketing a movie and they couldn't even edit the best scenes together to make a fun trailer. MGM had the nerve to put a ninja on the front sleeve and Sho Kosugi doesn't even put on the costume in this one.
Simply put, RAGE OF HONOR is bland and generic late 80's action dreck! No, this does not pass as "It's so bad, it's good" because the production values are glossy, Hollywood-esque. All of the actors gave stoic performances with wooden dialog for them to work with. Nobody seem to care that they were doing a movie with a martial arts legend and looked like they were there for the paycheck. The main villain is far from menacing and Sho Kosugi struggling with the english language makes for an embarassing hero. Everything is thrown in to entertain the audience, explosions, ninjas, shoot-outs, ninja weapons, helicopters and wild stunts still turns out to be dull affair because of poor direction. The background music is lame and doesn't do anything to light up the action sequences. There's even a misplaced cheesy 80's RnB/pop song during the opening and end credits. The cameraman looks bored and it's nothing more than point and shoot. I'll only give one star for the fact that Sho Kosugi finally gets to have a white girlfriend! A rarity even in this day and age where Asian men never get the white girl in American movies. This was Sho Kosugi's last star vehicle project when he was in his prime and unfortunately I would still say avoid at all costs.
1 out of 1 people found this helpful.
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It said "good" condition on the website when i bought it. it was, in fact an almost worn out rental tape. It got the job done though. "good" condition must not mean what i thought it means though. I would have classified it as "fair".
Campy c rate movie.
0 out of 1 people found this helpful.
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Not as good as I thought
Added 9/6/2009
Based on other Sho Kosugi movies, I ordered this movie thinking I would see Sho in the ninja costume, doing martial arts, with the traditonal ninja weapons. I'm actually disappointed. Don't judge a book....err, movie by it's cover. Lame action movie, no real ninja stuff......and this is coming from a Sho Kosugi fan.
Stick to Revenge of the Ninja, Ninja III ( if you can find it ).
1 out of 1 people found this helpful.
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this movie feels like an SNES side-scrolling beat-'em-up (think TMNT), and that's a good thing
0 out of 1 people found this helpful.
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As always I enjoy action movies, and this one is right in there for action. If you like mystery and action in movies get and watch this movie.You will enjoy it, as I have.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
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Sho Kosugi's post Cannon career was a horrible misfire!
Added 10/19/2009
Shame on MGM for putting this terrible movie out on DVD and not NINJA III THE DOMINATION. This is a perfect example when sometimes a bigger budget cannot save a film that can be mishandled by a production team with no vision or talent. After watching PRAY FOR DEATH(1985) and RAGE OF HONOR(1987) in 2009, it's obvious that Trans World Entertainment was more interested in capitalizing on the 80's ninja craze and the results were disastrous. It's sad because if Sho Kosugi's martial arts talent were better utilized, he should have continued the streak of entertaining ninja action movies after his time with Cannon films. I'll just give a brief overview of what went wrong with the film at hand and some minor problems with the DVD itself.
MGM decided to be cheap and release the DVD full screen which cropped out a lot of the action on the sides. This was a mistake because the Cannon movies were shot open-matte so full screen is perfectly fine for those DVD's but Trans World obviously shot Widescreen. Second problem, the soundtrack was not mixed correctly. When I play this DVD on my surround sound, the background music sounds muffled and I can barely hear it. When I play it on my TV/DVD player with no speakers, all the sound is in sync. There are no special features but a lifeless theatrical trailer is included. Normally, the trailers are the most deceiving aspect of marketing a movie and they couldn't even edit the best scenes together to make a fun trailer. MGM had the nerve to put a ninja on the front sleeve and Sho Kosugi doesn't even put on the costume in this one.
Simply put, RAGE OF HONOR is bland and generic late 80's action dreck! No, this does not pass as "It's so bad, it's good" because the production values are glossy, Hollywood-esque. All of the actors gave stoic performances with wooden dialog for them to work with. Nobody seem to care that they were doing a movie with a martial arts legend and looked like they were there for the paycheck. The main villain is far from menacing and Sho Kosugi struggling with the english language makes for an embarassing hero. Everything is thrown in to entertain the audience, explosions, ninjas, shoot-outs, ninja weapons, helicopters and wild stunts still turns out to be dull affair because of poor direction. The background music is lame and doesn't do anything to light up the action sequences. There's even a misplaced cheesy 80's RnB/pop song during the opening and end credits. The cameraman looks bored and it's nothing more than point and shoot. I'll only give one star for the fact that Sho Kosugi finally gets to have a white girlfriend! A rarity even in this day and age where Asian men never get the white girl in American movies. This was Sho Kosugi's last star vehicle project when he was in his prime and unfortunately I would still say avoid at all costs.
1 out of 1 people found this helpful.
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It said "good" condition on the website when i bought it. it was, in fact an almost worn out rental tape. It got the job done though. "good" condition must not mean what i thought it means though. I would have classified it as "fair".
Campy c rate movie.
0 out of 1 people found this helpful.
|
Not as good as I thought
Added 9/6/2009
Based on other Sho Kosugi movies, I ordered this movie thinking I would see Sho in the ninja costume, doing martial arts, with the traditonal ninja weapons. I'm actually disappointed. Don't judge a book....err, movie by it's cover. Lame action movie, no real ninja stuff......and this is coming from a Sho Kosugi fan.
Stick to Revenge of the Ninja, Ninja III ( if you can find it ).
1 out of 1 people found this helpful.
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