It's not great by any means, but it's a pretty good movie that didn't leave me filled with regret for investing time in it.

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

Sonny Chiba is the predictably ass-kicking hero in this engaging historical effort which shows what life was like in Japan just after World War 2…in a nutshell, pretty grim. Chiba plays the real-life Master Soh, a martial arts master who successfully opened his own Shaolin kung fu school in Osaka – but not before lots of blood has been spilt. The film is really made of two halves, the first half telling the historical story, and focusing on plenty of emoting from Chiba – who undergoes a moral transformation – and concentrating on his relationships with a gang of orphaned kids and a nice gal who resorts to prostitution to earn some money.The second half of the film is more familiar territory for STREET FIGHTER fans, charting Chiba's progress against the various gangs who make up the villains of the film. Things begin on a high note as Chiba massacres a bunch of Chinese soldiers before learning that the war is over. He proceeds to go berserk and gun down all of his Japanese seniors in one go! After this, Chiba returns to Japan to set up home in a black market, and it's not long before he's jabbing out the eyes of an American serviceman who mows down a little kid with his jeep.Things progress pretty much as you would expect from there, as Chiba fights off yakuza gangs, local thugs, and more, although the film noticeably lacks a main villain with whom Chiba can pit his wits – he's just too good for them all! The film is as gory as you would expect, with an arm-severing that'd make the ONE-ARMED BOXER wince and look away, and Chiba goes around breaking arms in various well-choreographed fight scenes which are the real highlights of the film. The most outrageous shot occurs as Chiba takes revenge on a rapist, cutting off his tackle with a knife and feeding it to a stray dog! The supporting cast are strong, especially the female performers, including Chiba regular Etsuko Shihomi, aka SISTER STREET FIGHTER. Things culminate in a massive running battle in the forest as Chiba takes on a sword-wielding yakuza gang, no prizes for guessing who comes out tops in this one. All in all THE KILLING MACHINE is a superior martial arts film that any STREET FIGHTER fan is sure to enjoy.

That's right every man and woman hero its 1946 and the war is over. Japan is all messed up and so he defends the poor well kids anyway and a prostitute he fights and badly hurts two Americans and he is said to be put to death.The warden likes our hero tells him to leave Osaka,Japan.He does and starts up a dojo where he teaches show Lin karate anyway this is a great movie lots of fighting good acting and at times really sad and gory.Chibas character cuts off a bad guys balls dislocates allot of limbs his buby gits stabbed to death and a student/friend gets his arm cut off I have the movie in a 3 pack Lethal Chiba it includes this and The Executioner one and two if your a fan go get this DVD easy to find and its cheep at Best Buy only paid 16 bucks for it!!Let action begin!!!

I won't lie to you. This movie does not contain any great philosophical ideas, ethical didacticisms or original story concepts. But what would be the fun in that? This movie is essentially all about Sonny Chiba rockin' the proverbial mic. The story is roughly this; a dude gets into too many fights, relocates, makes friends by getting into more fights, gets his friends injured in fights (notably arm severage), gets into fights to avenge said friends, is overtly ethical but then kicks some ass, gets in more fights, cuts off a rapist's wienie (then gives it to a dog to eat), learns about love and redemption (care of a token pure-and-innocent-girl-turned-victimised-hooker and a bunch of raggedy ass orphans) but knocks the shiz out of each and every fcuker that comes along and pisses him off nonetheless (especially if they're Chinese or American).Chiba's character, though loosely based on real life Shaolin badass Doshin So, is a little too close to many of Bruce Lee's characters from five years earlier (the overt morality and incorruptibility), but his presence (mean, badass, take-no-sh*t and strongly Nationalistic) and fighting style (Shaolin boxing) are both sufficiently different for that not to matter. Moreover, it's a departure from Chiba's usual character type, notably from the 'Streetfighter' series, where he is more or less completely amoral. This is a Sonny Chiba movie you could watch with your kids... were it not for the brutal violence.If you are looking for a Sonny Chiba film to serve as an introduction to his work, you could do a lot worse. Along with the original 'Streetfighter', 'Killing Machine' is one of his very best.

In one scene he helps orphans, the next he rips off someones penis and feeds it to a dog. He cries the loss of his love, the prostitute he helped get off the street...then his friend gets his arm cut off with a sword and blood spurts from the stump. All of this with Japanese Nationalist beliefs and hatred against Chinese & Americans. This does star Sonny Chiba and it isn't bad, though the drama seems a little cheesy with the orphans and everybody's fake tears. Not one of his top three films for sure.