I mention in my review for "Return of the Streetfighter" that the first rule of movie making is if something works you beat it to death. The first streetfighter movie worked so they produced a second to beat the concept to death. So what about going for a third beating? Most reviewers feel this movie is a disappointment and the worst of the three movies. What went wrong?

The movie starts with a good action sequence. Sonny gets a job to extract a man from a police shoot out. He then brings him and a mahjong case to get his payment but he is double-crossed. He next fights Etsuko Shihomi. Despite a strong start, after that the problems appear. The character with the sombrero is just dumb. There should have been more fights than the previous movie but instead there were fewer. There was no memorable fight sequence. Instead, the fights all looked alike. Basically, the entire movie seemed like minimal effort in every aspect.

At the same time there was a spin off series, the sister street fighter movies. That's another review!

The Street Fighter's Last Revenge is the third and last installment in the series around vicious hitman and karate fighter Tsurugi Takuma. This movie is also the best in the series and one would have liked to see more films in the franchise. This last film combines the strengths of the great first movie such as diversified settings, vicious fight scenes and interesting characters and adds an interesting plot with numerous twists and turns until the very end. In order to fully appreciate this film, you should watch the Japanese version because the American version has cut some fight scenes and changed parts of the plot for no reason whatsoever.

The story revolves around a Yakuza clan associated with a ruthless company that blackmails and bribes politicians. Tsurugi Takuma steals an important tape that proves this scheme and blackmails the Yakuza clan himself. The main character needs to fight an overtly motivated Taiwanese fighter who quickly changes sides to support him, a determined prosecutor who initially wants to expose the criminals but then decides to betray them and get rich and a seductive woman associated to the Yakuza who tries to murder the main character and the prosecutor on numerous occasions.

The fight scenes are even more interesting than in the previous installments because Tsurugi Takuma faces an opponent who is even stronger than him and needs to learn about his background and fight techniques to clear his mind and win the deadly final duel. The characters are even more interesting than in the two predecessors and especially the diversified prosecutor and the deadly femme fatale are particularly intriguing and make the viewers care about their fates. The settings are diversified as the fights take place on a fairground, in a crematorium and at a marina on a particularly rainy night. The story offers numerous at times surprising twists and turns that keep viewers on the edge of their seats until the very end.

The Street Fighter's Last Revenge is among the very best contemporary martial arts films ever made and a very positive surprise after the lackluster second installment in the series. This movie deserves more attention and recognition. Even if you haven't watched the first two films in the series, you should watch this one if you are a genre fan. It's regrettable that the series didn't continue but one has to admit that it ended on a very high note.

This review is based on the English language dubbed version entitled "STREET FIGHTER'S LAST REVENGE". The original non-dubbed version is almost certainly better but I have not seen it and don't want anyone to think my review is for the original film. In most cases, the original film is highly re-edited and the plots are often changed so it wouldn't be fair to consider this review to be that for Gyakushû! Satsujin Ken--which was actually released years before the dubbed version.

As for the plot, here it is--though most fans really are more concerned with the action and not the adequate plot: Chiba does a job for the mob and they insanely try to cheat them! Don't they KNOW this means they're in for a major butt-kicking!? Well, the rest of the film is pretty much what you'd expect and the only surprise is that in one of his many fights, Chiba is beaten!! Of course, there's a rematch, but still the idea of the Street Fighter losing to anyone is pretty unique!

Had I never seen the previous Street Fighter films, I might have enjoyed this film a lot more. The action is pretty good--though unfortunately not nearly as good as it was in the first two Street Fighter films. Some of the original brutality was missing (though the crematorium scene is pretty horrific) and the plot seems pretty poor--especially in regard to the scuzzy lady who seems to again and again hurt people and no one seems to notice that she's BAD!! Even at the end, when the nasty skank is killed, Sonny Chiba's character oddly seems sad to see her die! Frankly, he should have celebrated like the Muchkins did when the Wicked Witch of the East died!!

By the way, the evil lady likes to use sex as her main weapon--so don't be surprised when her breasts keep popping across the screen. Parents should consider this before letting kids watch the film. Of course, I think I'd be less worried about my kids seeing this than I would be if they saw all the violence, so it's NOT a kid-friendly film.