Strictly average movie

It was OK. I don't see why everyone loves it so much. It wasn't very smart or deep or well-directed.

The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

Perhaps the sixth and final movie starring Sonny Chiba during his watershed year of 1974? As many have said before, less Street Fighter more James Bond, although the character has the same name and profession as the earlier editions. By this time Sonny's character has mellowed into a more traditional heroic figure and is living in a flashy apartment with an automated sliding door, and the trademark black karate outfit has been dropped, instead he's sporting the black tie & white dinner jacket ensemble favoured by International Men Of Mystery. (But never fear, he's still able to summon up enough rage to rip someones heart out of their chest in uncut versions!) However his economical Japanese compact is not quite in the same league as the Aston Martin (Connery's Bond), Lotus Espirit (Roger Moore's Bond) or even the Volvo P1800 (Roger Moore's Saint). Once again the Yakuza try to stiff him for his fee on an assignment successfully carried out, and face the inevitable deadly consequences (will they never learn!) Sister street fighter wants to change sides and become his protégé, but Sonny is having none of it and by the time she finally convinces him of her value, she is dead. The villians include a Femme Fatale of dubious character to occupy Sonny's love interest. She's a bad, bad girl, but can Sonny show her the error of her evil ways or is she just playing him for a fool? The Yakuza first attempt to dispose of Sonny by hiring a bizarre laser wielding Cisco Kid look alike in a huge sombrero, who fails miserably on all levels (the weakest part of the movie). Fotunately for the audience, just when Sonny seems to have everything under control, a mysterious rival with superior martial arts skills appears, who outwits and outfights Sonny, to the extent he feels the need to go back to school and aquire some new and improved techniques. Even so this nemisis proves more than a match for Sonny, and takes him to the limit, and beyond, in the final showdown! With a double twist ending I won't spoil.

I don't know whether the terrible dubbing on my DVD is to blame, but the plot to this third and final film in The Streetfighter series made very little sense to me—some nonsense to do with a pair of cassette tapes containing the formula for synthetic heroin. Sonny Chiba's hard-as-nails mercenary Terry Tsurugi is double-crossed by the Yakuza over the sale of one of these tapes and consequently takes revenge, taking time out from the kicking and punching to get jiggy with sexy siren Aya Ôwada (Reiko Ike, who goes topless). Oh, and there's a mariachi in a big black sombrero who fires lasers from his fingers, and Terry dresses up like Dracula.Clearly, it's all a far cry from the gritty brutality of the original film, with Terry more secret agent than anti-hero, complete with headquarters featuring sliding silver doors. Terry even dons latex masks, Mission Impossible style, to change his identity. Even though I usually welcome a healthy dollop of wackiness in my martial arts films, It simply doesn't suit this series, being too far removed from the previous films, both of which I thoroughly enjoyed. I wanted more of the same, but what I got was a whole load of silliness. Very disappointing.3.5 out of 10, generously rounded up to 4 for Reiko Ike.

Takuma Tsurugi (Sonny Chiba) (AKA: The Street Fighter"), rather like James Bond, is an assassin for hire, a man who is a master of disguise and the martial arts but don't cross or betray him because if you do, you will pay and pay dearly. He, again rather like James Bond, has a weakness for playing with dangerous women, particularly the most ruthless and cutthroat. Here the villains, who have hired Tsurugi to get two tape cassette recordings that when played in unison provide a formula for creating synthetic heroin potentially worth a fortune in the wrong hands, make that most fatal mistake of crossing Tsurugi. And now they will pay! This moves at a brisk pace, is exciting and action-packed, and feels like a much darker take on a James Bond type of film. It's not really all that much like the previous "Street Fighter" fare at all but it is fun if you're willing to forgive that fact. The only problem I had with the film was all the betrayals and double-dealings became confusing after a time and I was surprised Tsurugi allowed himself to be put into a position where he could be betrayed by the lead villains on more than one occasion. Also Tsurugi is hardly an heroic male lead, in fact he's every bit as ruthless and unrelenting, if not even more so, that this story's villains. Still the good in terms of entertainment value here I feel far outweighs the bad.

If you love THE STREET FIGHTER (and you probably do if you looked up this entry) don't even bother with this final entry in the series. This one sucks out loud, and has only one decent fight scene which lasts for about a minute. Our hero now has taken on a more "MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE"-type persona since he now is a master of disguise (???). Skip this.