DVD released: October 26, 2004.
Approximate running time: 87 Minutes
Aspect Ratio: 2.35.1 Anamorphic Widescreen
Rating: NR
Sound: Dolby Digital Mono/5.1 Surround Sound
DVD Release: Adness
Region Coding: Region 1 NTSC
Retail Price: $19.99



Reviewed by:
Frank Estrada on December 23, 2004.

Sonny Chiba is Doshin So, an agent for the Japanese Secret Service, and a man with some serious Shaolin Style.  After that brief international incident known as World War 2, he finds his country in shambles, and his panties in a bunch. Clearly a bitter and resentful young man, his animosity reaches it's boiling point when a young whippersnapper from his hood is run over by a couple of American GIs who obviously did not graduate from the Sears Driving School. After breaking them off a lil' somethin', literally, he gets tossed in the hokey, but not after treating the audience to a dazzling display of handcuffed fisticuffs. After his release, he continues on the path of ass kickery while somehow finding time to hang with some orphans and a, uh, whore. 

Lots of melodrama happens, until finally So opens up his own dojo to school the young'ins in Butt Kick 101. But all hell breaks loose when some mobsters start throwing their weight around and want their cut. The Cheebster is not havin' it, and he proceeds to carry out his agenda of ass whoopin' in a major way. 

Hardcore action aficionados might have a hard time with the ponderous scenes of melodrama, and the talky plot development stuff really seemed to drag. I often found myself just wanting to get to the next fight scene, seeing as how the main reason we watch these films is to see Chiba kick people in all his slow motion glory. But luckily, as far as action goes, this flick delivers. Chiba punches. Chiba kicks. Chiba even rips a guy's balls off and feeds them to a dog. And while I wouldn't let him take care of my pets over the weekend, he sure can dominate the screen with his tough guy panache, and crisp karate technique. The director also infuses the film with many visuals that viewers might identify with Japanese style, such as the scene in which Chiba has a contemplative moment while snow gently falls around him. So while I found the film to be too slow and melodramatic for my tastes, it at least had some great moments of visual style to go along with the well choreographed fights scenes.

This disc offers two flavors as far as sound options - the original language mono mix, and a brand-spankin' new 5.1 mix, also in Japanese. The 5.1 mix won't become your new demo disc to show off your surround system, and the OG mix is just about as good, so it's really apples and oranges. The subtitles are only slightly cheesy, but sometimes they go missing altogether when characters are clearly talking. But despite this, the viewing experience doesn't suffer too much.  And the sound mix, while not not earth-shattering, does a decent job.

It's grindhouse time with the release of this flick on dvd, and you don't even have to brave the sticky floors, reefer smoke, and unwashed masses to dig it. Adness brings the grindhouse flavor to your living room, and with surprisingly decent sound and picture. If you can brave the slower scenes of melodrama, you will be rewarded with some sick slo-mo scrappin' - and that's no lie.