Featured Blu-ray Review: Sister Street Fighter Collection
May 6, 2019
Sister Street Fighter Collection - Buy from Amazon: Blu-ray
Sister Street Fighter is a martial arts trilogy that began as a spin-off of The Street Fighter. It starred Etsuko Shihomi, who was in The Street Fighter before she got her chance to lead here. Are the movies worth checking out? Does the box set do the films justice?
The plot summaries and the reviews will be shorter this time around for two reasons. Firstly, there are several movies to talk about and secondly, the review is less about the individual movies and more about whether or not the box set is worth it for fans of the franchise or of this genre in general.
Etsuko Shihomi stars as Tina Long. At the beginning of the movie, she learns her brother, Lee, was an undercover officer assigned to track drug smugglers. Unfortunately, both Lee and his partner, Fanny Singer, have gone missing. Lee’s commander in the police force asks Tina to find Lee’s partner, which should help her find Lee and dismantle the drug smugglers operating out of Central Export. She won’t have to fight alone, as she gets help from Sonny Hibachi and his fellow shorinji kempo students. (On a side note, the martial arts school uses the sauwastika as its symbol, which is essentially the swastika with the opposite orientation. It has nothing to do with Nazism, but it does take a bit to get used to.)
This is arguably the weakest of the three movies for a few reasons, if you were to watch the films out of order. The acting is more than a little stiff at times from much of the cast and this includes Etsuko Shihomi. To be fair, this was her first leading role and she does improve as the series continues. Furthermore, she wasn’t given a lot to work with. The script doesn’t spend a lot of time on character development and only cares about getting from one action set piece to the next. On that note, she’s top-notch when it comes to fighting scenes right from the beginning and that’s the key to the film’s appeal. The Sister Street Fighter franchise can be seen as little more than an excuse to pit Etsuko Shihomi against a series of divergent enemies and watch her beat her way through them.
Sister Street Fighter: Hanging By A Thread
The second film in the franchise is practically a remake of the first. This time, Tina Long is dealing with diamond smugglers who have kidnapped her friend rather than heroin smugglers who had kidnapped her brother. The film begins with Tina rescuing a man from a gang, only to have him give her a cryptic message, and his glass eye, before dying. It’s a great hook; I’ll give the film that.
There are some parts of this movie that are a step up from the first film. For example, Etsuko Shihomi’s acting has improved. Some of the action scenes are also top-notch. (There’s one that made me think Quentin Tarantino has seen this movie.) On the other hand, this movie was released barely three months after the original film came out and you can tell there was a rushed production. The plot is even less well-thought out here than it was before and there are too many story beats that are repeated in both movie. That said, the acting and the fight scenes are better here in my opinion, so I think this is the marginally better movie.
One last note: This is the uncut version of the movie and it includes a scene where there’s a picture of a naked girl on the wall of the smugglers HQ. Out of context, the image isn’t sexualized, but the smugglers are overtly creepy in other ways, so you can’t help by see it in a creepy light. The U.K. release edited this scene, reframing it so the image wasn’t visible. I think that was the smart choice.
The Return of Sister Street Fighter
Okay. ... This time it’s a cousin of Tina’s friend that’s been kidnapped and it’s gold smuggling. That’s all the plot I’m going to give and it is more than you need to know.
The plot similarities between the three films has reached the point where it is silly. There’s sticking to a formula and then there’s recycling nearly all of the main plot points. Hell, this is the third movie in a row where we’ve had a scene in a strip club where Tina’s trying to meet a source. However, the genre was never a bubbling cauldron of originality, so while the obvious copycat elements are something that you can’t help but notice, it’s not a deal-breaker as long as the action scenes stand out. They do, for the most part. There’s a tournament that the crime boss uses to pick the men he’s going to hire and I would have loved to have seen a full movie of that. ... Minus the Japanese man in blackface pretending to be a tribal African. The 70s were a different time. Other point in this film’s favor include Etsuko Shihomi’s acting, which is the best so far and it is much easier to empathize with her as a result.
Sister Street Fighter – Fifth Level Fist
This film is technically not part of the franchise, as Etsuko Shihomi is playing an entirely different character. Here she plays Kiku Nakagawa, the only daughter of a rich kimono shop owner whose parents are hoping to marry her off to a wealthy and educated man. She’s not having it and just wants to practice her martial arts. Then the brother of one of her friends is killed... by smugglers... yep, we are back to smugglers.
This film isn’t written or directed by the same people who made the first three films and you can tell by the tone. It is a lot more comedic and a lot less reliant on action scenes. There is also some social commentary, as one of the main characters is half-black and the film deals with some of the xenophobia and nationalism in Japan. This is a major asset, but it does come at the expense of some of the action scenes. Additionally, the film lacks the nudity / blood of the first three films. I didn’t miss these elements, but it is part of what made those films what they were and their absence here shows this film is truly part of the franchise. It is still worth watching and I’m glad it was included here.
Disc One has a trio of featurettes, starting with Sonny Chiba: A Life in Action, Volume 3. It’s a 10-minute interview with Sonny Chiba talking about Etsuko Shihomi. Kazuhiko Yamaguchi: Kick-Ass Sisters is a 10-minute interview with the director, Kazuhiko Yamaguchi, about his career and Etsuko Shihomi. Masahiro Kakefuda: Subversive Action, is an 11-minute interview with the co-screenwriter. There are also highlights for the score, gallery, and trailers.
There are no featurettes on disc two, although there are isolated score highlights and more trailers. Additionally, one could argue the fourth film is an extra in itself.
The Sister Street Fighter franchise isn’t as well known as the original trilogy it was spun-off from. However, fans of martial arts movies of the era will certainly want to check it out. Etsuko Shihomi was an amazing martial artist and her acting continued to improve throughout the movies. The Blu-ray Box Set has enough extras that it is worth picking up.
The Movies
The Extras
The Verdict
Filed under: Video Review, Sonny Chiba, Quentin Tarantino