← Back to Reviews
 

Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky


Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky -


If you're a fan of Stephen Chow's movies, Big Trouble in Little China or fantastical, over-the-top martial arts movies in general, you owe it to yourself to see this. Part Shawshank Redemption and part Mortal Kombat - which this movie inspired - the titular character is a man whose strength makes him impossible to detain since he can pull chains apart and whose punches shred human flesh to hilariously gory effect. Luckily, Ricky faces many worthy adversaries on his way to liberating the for-profit prison where he is incarcerated: besides the Gang of Four, there's Dan the gluttonous, glass-eyed assistant warden and of course the main warden, who must have been inspired by Judge Doom from the equally cartoonish Who Framed Roger Rabbit. At the risk of seeming like I want to finish this review early, it's a movie I'm hesitant to say any more about because mere words cannot do justice to how crazy it is. It's better, not to mention more efficient, to just say that you should see it instead of praising its merits. The best way I can describe it is if Sam Raimi, Stephen Chow and Frank Darabont went on a drunken bender and then wrote a script, this is what it would look like if someone filmed it. Oh, and again, if the evils of capitalism are on your mind lately, the mere sight of Dan's typical meal and his pornography-laden office as well as the warden's spoiled, child-like adult son are bound to provide just as much catharsis as the blood and guts.