★ 6 / 10
Sonny Chiba lays his vengeance upon the viewer.
Hey_Sweden
Beginning with a recitation of Ezekiel 25:17 (later, memorably used in "Pulp Fiction"), "The Bodyguard" is a tacky but fun Shin'ichi "Sonny" Chiba vehicle. He…
Beginning with a recitation of Ezekiel 25:17 (later, memorably used in "Pulp Fiction"), "The Bodyguard" is a tacky but fun Shin'ichi "Sonny" Chiba vehicle. He plays Kiba, who returns to Japan after some time in NYC, and is now a man on a mission, waging a one-man war on drugs. To further his aim, he hires on as bodyguard to the pretty Reiko Miwa (Mari Atsumi), who is definitely not playing it straight with him."The Bodyguard" is cheesy in so many departments: script, dialogue, supporting performances, etc. It's actually priceless how bad this is. Don't waste time trying to scrutinize THIS story, just enjoy the mayhem, of which there is a fair amount.Overall, this is definitely a lesser Chiba movie, but it's so endlessly amusing that I was entertained, start to finish. It really doesn't give the star that many opportunities to strut his stuff, but there are some hysterical over-the-top gore gags, including a severed arm and a severed head. And the bad guys are a truly scummy (and supposedly colorful) lot, who ham it up something fierce whenever they get mowed down. They are also some of the STUPIDEST bad guys you'll ever see in an action movie."The Bodyguard" is garbage, plain and simple, but for me it was pretty agreeable in its badness. It's the kind of thing I'd recommend that you watch with your friends and some beers.There are brief, pointless cameos by Aaron Banks and Bill Louie in the early parts of the U. S. version.Six out of 10.
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★ 5 / 10
Should have been better
dokvader
I watched the American version of this movie from the latest 6-Disc DVD release of a Sonny Chiba collection bought from the US. It was dubbed in English, and…
I watched the American version of this movie from the latest 6-Disc DVD release of a Sonny Chiba collection bought from the US. It was dubbed in English, and without any subtitles.
The movie starts out in New York nonetheless, the first scene was typical setting for a hit. The next scene would be totally unrelated to the whole movie, it was a discussion on how would Chiba and Bruce Lee compare as actioned out by two actors trying hard to imitate them.
The gritty rough face of Chiba here is I think a trademark from all his films, his dubbed voice however was not as tough as it Chiba would sound like. I think Americans wanted to release the movie with another movie to make it a Grindhouse feature presentation. As like Grindhouse movies, it has violence, nudity and terrible sequence of scenes that sometimes are overlong, or not important at all.
The Bodyguard had an interesting plot to work with, however it did not deliver, the scenes were below par, the lines were cheesy, and the action was disappointing for a Chiba film. This would not be the one I would recommend to a person just starting to watch Sonny Chiba's movies. I was good enough to rate with a 5/10 despite the movie's weak showing.
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