Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky

Perfect mix of over-the-top martial arts action, ridiculous satirical comedy and gore fest galore—a B-movie enthusiast's wet dream of a movie! The special effects are half good half terrible but it just contributes to the type of humor it's going for. Same goes for the ridiculous amount of slow-motion. Very over-the-top villain that reminded me of Dr. Evil (*Austin Powers*) for some reason. So much creativity with the gory fight scenes, stuff I would have never though of and quite memorable. Not really any dull quiet moments, I was entertained the whole way through. Hits my type of comedy too, there's always something funny happening in the background that makes absolutely no sense. No use analysing the story here. Weirdly devoit of any music. First act was amazing, it lost a bit of steam in the second act but the third act was insane. So much fun!

I don’t really believe in the term ‘guilty pleasure’, because to me campy movies can be a genuine artform if a filmmaker fully commits to the bit in a clever way. As such, I reject the idea of anyone having to feel guilty for enjoying this. This is very much the _Commando_ of the 90s, it’s exactly the adult cartoon it wants to be. Every sound, editing and acting choice reinforce its ridiculous, over the top vibe. Not all of it is tasteful (particularly the way it uses music kinda sucks, and the excessive slow-mo could’ve been reigned in), but the movie is memorable because of the entertaining action sequences, dumb (but good) comedy and schlock horror influences. Just imagine Quentin Tarantino and Sam Raimi teaming up for an exploitation movie, and you’re close to what this is. Would it be a better movie if it genuinely tried with the script? Maybe, but it would probably be less entertaining. Overall, while I definitely can’t guarantee that anyone will like it, I thought this one was quite fun. 6.5/10