The Executioner (1974) User Reviews

8/10 - remember it's a ninja film and enjoy it!

[simon_booth · 8/10 · 5 March 2006]

In order to bust a gang of drug smugglers the law can't touch, two cops hand in their badges and hire a ninja and a pervert to take the bad guys on! Hey, don't look at me, I didn't write it :p I keep trying to like Sonny Chiba films, but have been consistently disappointed (I've liked films he's been in, such as Stormriders, but not films he's starred in). But I keep trying, because it's clear a man of such martial arts talent *should* be able to pull out some great films. Finally I've found one that, for me, realises Chiba's potential - THE EXECUTIONER - and I realised that the problem with most of the other Chiba films I've seen was a complete lack of ninjas! Chiba plays the heir to the leadership of the Koga ninja clan, whose grandfather puts him through arduous training as a child so that the clan's skills will survive. When he's old enough to leave the roost he finds his ninja skills are really not that much use, and just about makes a living as a second-rate private detective. The former cops hook him for their mission with the promise of billions of yen's worth of drug money once they take the dope from the Yakuza that are supplying it.

The 70's knew what people wanted when they went to the cinema - sex and violence! THE EXECUTIONER has little ambition more than to provide us with some of both, though definitely more of the latter. The influence of Bruce Lee is strong, but Bruce would probably never have been involved with something this sleazy. Chiba is like Bruce minus the philosophy and principles - a "bad ass", in other words. There's not a lot more to say about the film really... the plot offers little in the way of surprises, but quite a few cheap thrills and some genuine laughs (the film doesn't seem to take itself too seriously), and Chiba pulls a guy's rib right out of his chest. What else do you want????

Spot-on harsh martial arts action opus

[Woodyanders · 8/10 · 11 March 2015]

An ex-police captain recruits three men -- fearsome ninja master Ryuichi Koga (Sonny Chiba in fine fierce form), former detective turned lethal assassin Takeshi Hayato (the excellent Makoto Sato), and klutzy low-rent criminal Ichiro Sakuta (a hilarious comic turn by Eiji Go) -- to take down a deadly Yakuza crime lord. The trio soon rack up a massive body count as they tear their way through the seamy Japanese underworld.

Writer/director Teruo Ishii keeps the taut and absorbing story moving along at a brisk pace, maintains a tough gritty tone throughout, stages the plentiful and exciting martial arts fights with rip-snorting go-for-the-throat brio, delivers a satisfying smattering of tasty gratuitous female nudity, and further sweetens the whole deal with amusing touches of campy humor. The lovely Yutaka Nakajima provides lots of delightful spark as the sassy Emi. The moments of bloody'n'brutal violence pack a savage punch. Hajime Kaburagi's funky-chilling score hits the get-down groovy spot. Yoshikazu Yamasawa's dynamic widescreen cinematography gives this picture a stirring extra kick. Recommended viewing for fans of deliciously down'n'dirty chopsocky trash.

Not the best Chiba

[jellopuke · 6/10 · 19 March 2023]

A group of gangsters are sent on a mission where upon they will fight lots of kung fu battles and scream a lot. There will be double crosses and chases and lots of kicks and flips.

The tone of this movie is all over the place with wackiness and goofiness mixed in with the fighting and violence. It's nowhere near as good as some of Chiba's best but it still has his level of charm and brutality that is enough to get your through the brief run time. Maybe Chiba super fans will get the most out of it, but otherwise I'd say stick to stuff like THE STREET FIGHTER for better era Chiba madness and fun.

EXECUTIONER - a Japanese thriller for Sonny Chiba fans

[BrianDanaCamp · 19 May 2002]

EXECUTIONER (1974) is a contemporary crime thriller about a secret band of fighters recruited by a disgraced narcotics detective seeking to stop the flow of drugs into Japan. While diehard fans of the film's star, Sonny Chiba, are partial to this film, it may not satisfy those looking for the kind of martial arts thrills provided by the kung fu films that were coming out of Hong Kong at the same time. Chiba had considerable style and exceptional fighting skills but he rarely found a vehicle that knew how to exploit his talents properly. (My own favorite is his 1975 historical drama about post-war Japan, THE KILLING MACHINE.) Here he plays a man trained by his grandfather since childhood in ninja fighting arts but who has had little success finding his place in the world until he's recruited, with the promise of great wealth, to help fight the Japanese mafia. In fighting mode, Chiba gesticulates wildly and displays the intense faces that became his trademark feature in the STREET FIGHTER series of films (1974), but which seem out of place here given the more secretive, subtle nature of the ninja arts. He does use some ninja techniques on occasion, most notably sticking to the ceiling to avoid being spotted.

Chiba has a few good fight scenes, in some of which he takes on multiple opponents. In the big climactic finale, he faces a group of formidable opponents, including a pair of Caucasian wrestlers. However, there are long, silly patches in between as Chiba banters with his teammate, Sakura (Ryo Ikebe), a sex-crazed escaped con who's supposed to be a fighter also but never quite carries his share of the action. Providing a serious anchor to the proceedings is the venerable character actor Makoto Sato (also seen in MESSAGE FROM SPACE), who plays the former narcotics cop seeking to redeem himself. The film is violent and bloody, but not as over-the-top as the STREET FIGHTER films. There is also plenty of gratuitous, if not terribly attractive, female nudity (mostly involving non-Asian women).

Japanese samurai films were often distinguished by elegant camerawork and stately, formal compositions. The swordfights were photographed full-frame with all of the action contained in the widescreen image as the camera operator simply followed the actors as they fought, without a lot of intercutting or cutaways. The people who made those films, however, did not work on Chiba's films, which were often undermined by excessive handheld camerawork and awkward compositions. This film may not be the worst offender (that would be CHAMPION OF DEATH, 1975), but the camera is still generally either too far away or too close to the action. It sometimes moves around within a scene for no reason and too often settles on a composition cluttered with unnecessary objects in the foreground. The loud, jazzy, 1970s score is much too intrusive as well.

The big problem with Chiba's films, for many fans, is that there simply weren't enough fight scenes and when they did occur, no matter how well staged they were, they were badly photographed. His films are not as focused as comparable Hong Kong films of the era. One need only look at THE CHINATOWN KID (1977), starring Alexander Fu Sheng, for a model of how a contemporary crime drama could use martial arts effectively without disappointing the audience or wasting the skills of the performers. One wishes Chiba had gone to Hong Kong to make kung fu films with such master directors as Chang Cheh (THE CHINATOWN KID) and Lau Kar Leung (SHAOLIN CHALLENGES NINJA). The HK filmmakers knew how to showcase their performers (Gordon Liu, Alexander Fu Sheng, Chen Kuan Tai, the Five Venoms, etc.) and provide numerous, intricately staged fight scenes that allowed the fighters to show their stuff. Interestingly, one of Chiba's co-stars in EXECUTIONER is Yasuaki Kurata, who is better known for the numerous HK kung fu films he made (over a period of 25 years), including THE ANGRY GUEST, SHAOLIN CHALLENGES NINJA, LEGEND OF A FIGHTER, NINJA IN THE DEADLY TRAP and FIST OF LEGEND (where he squares off with Jet Li). Sadly, Kurata has only one brief fight scene in this film. No wonder he worked so often in Hong Kong. (Chiba later did turn up in HK films, most notably the 1998 fantasy adventure, THE STORM RIDERS, which relied more on computer effects than on genuine martial arts skills.)

All that said, however, EXECUTIONER is an eminently watchable action film and is, of course, a must for Chiba's fans. The 83-minute print seen on the Crash Cinema DVD release in the U.S. is quite scratchy and choppy in places, but the letter-boxed image is otherwise sharp and beautifully transferred.

fast and terribly bloody

[christopher-underwood · 7/10 · 20 December 2023]

I'm not really in love with karate but I have to say that Sonny Chiba has a certain charm and really can fight (and dance). There is a story but it is not very interesting so it is all about the fighting and its great fun. Straightaway we notice that this is not just long silent fights, they are fast and terribly bloody. There is some humour which is copied later by Jackie Chan, even during that ferocious fighting Teruo Ishii manages to find some car crashes and some sex to keep everything going. Actually the sex scenes are rather good and the fights. Chiba was just 20 when he was found by a talent search from Toei Studios and he made almost 200 films. Not only was he good at karate, getting a black belt, but also did judo and kenpo. Tarantino loved him and of course put him in both of his Kill Bill films.

Awesome

[BandSAboutMovies · 6/10 · 7 February 2023]

Three men have come together to destroy a drug cartel: Hayabusa (Makoto Sato), Aikido master and pervert Sakura (Eiji Go) and Koga Ninja school descendent Ryuichi Koga (Sonny Chiba), the master of the Hell Fist. Guided by disgraced cop Arashiyama (Ryo Ikebe) and Emi (Yutaka Nakajima), they have to stay together long enough to stop druglord Mario Mizuhara (Masahiko Tsugawa).

By destroy them, I mean the last thirty minutes of this movie is one big fistfight, broken up by a car chase, then more kicking and punching. Chiba may not be the flashiest or most acrobatic martial artist, but he's the roughest. I mean, why else would they call him the meanest man alive? Also, he's Lucio Fulci's favorite fighter, obviously, because he can smack someone in the head so hard their eyeball flies out of their head. He goes that one better by punching a man in the chest and pulling out one of his ribs.

This movie is absolutely hilarious, a sleazy mix of violence, nudity, wild costumes, sex and a double mannequin suicide plunge at the end that outdoes anything in Italian cinema, the world's biggest importer of wooden dummies for the end of giallo films.

Teruo Ishii supposedly hated making kung fu and action movies - I mean, the guy did make Shogun's Joy Of Torture so I think there's where his heart lies - that he made this parody so that Toei would ask him to make another. No matter. This movie is a total blast.

The Executioner (in Japanese "Direct Hit! Hell Fist")

[seveb-25179 · 7/10 · 21 December 2017]

A retired Police Chief and his best officer go renegade. The younger man hiring out as an assassin, so the gangsters are paying him to kill each other! Vigilante Justice while raising money for the widows and orphans of police men killed in the line of duty at the same time. Talk about killing two birds with one stone! But it's too big a job for only two men and an attractive daughter, so they need to persuade lone wolf ninja Sonny Chiba and some comic relief guy to join the team. They uncover and foil bigger and bigger underworld crime schemes, each time promising Sonny a bigger and bigger reward from the proceeds, but somehow the payoff never arrives. The drugs are accidently destroyed or the money disappears (to the widows and orphans). Not sure when Sonny catches on that he's doing it all for charity, but he doesn't seem to mind too much and carries on through the sequel. A lighter tone than some Chiba outings, with a colourful crop of villains and some of the fruitier moments in the Chiba cannon. Sonny gets to kick ass in a puffy shirt (Jerry Seinfeld, were you watching?) with some kind of fishnet arm and shoulder wear underneath, whose purpose escapes me. Sonny also does some interesting work with paint at one stage - kung-fu Jackson Pollock anyone? There are also the customary touches of sadism, the villain slowly strips his European girlfriend naked in the middle of a cocktail party. And during the climax Sonny ends up going over a cliff, but somehow climbs back up via a rope with a grappling hook on the end, which has lodged in the thigh of one of the villains. Half way through an idealistic and very handsome young cop also joins the fray, and one of the Yakuza's hired assassins shows his true Samurai spirit - changing sides in disgust after they overcome Sonny using dishonourable methods. They both get killed, but manage to tip the balance long enough for Sonny to rally from the brink of defeat, in his usual style, and seize the day. The action is more often colourful rather than than technical, while the comedy is broad pantomine and displays the usual 70s morality, which many may find startling and or offensive these days (?). All and all, this delivers another enjoyable slice of wholesome 70s Sonny Chiba goodness!

THIS is cinema.

[Super_Fu_Manchu · 10/10 · 22 August 2006]

I'm currently battling a long standing and gravely serious addiction to 70's B-pictures. Blaxploitation, kung-fu, pinky violence, spaghetti westerns, monster movies, Russ Meyer flicks, Italian crime movies - the effects of such an addiction can be gargantuan. However, the crime of many artifacts from the dead era of true 'trash' cinema is that they simply tend not to quite live up to their own hype. See, all these movies had was poster art, outrageous titles, taglines and perhaps one star attraction (like Sid Haig, Franco Nero or star of The Executioner, Sonny Chiba).

However, there is on occasional a movie that comes you way which meets and exceeds your wildest fantasies - Mario Bava's Rabid Dogs, Larry Cohen's Q The Winged Serpent, Giuliano Montaldo's heist film Grand Slam, Sergio Corbucci's Death Rides a Horse - these are all movies that are actually as good as they sound. The Executioner is one such film - it will surpass your wildest grindhouse dreams.

This movie is so stacked with raw humour, outrageous action scenes and sheer entertainment factor that it almost goes beyond belief. I simply can't overstate the pleasure that awaits you with this one - get some friends together, get some beers out, maybe roll yourselves a 'camberwell carrot' or two, and bask in the absurdity and outlandishness of this - Sonny Chiba's FINEST, most hilarious film.

It'll will restore your faith in exploitation films... and maybe, just maybe it will be the best 90 minutes of your entire life.

OK karate flick, but really kind of forgettable.

[[e-mail] · 5/10 · 4 January 2006]

This film starts out with an older guy and a young (and very attractive) lady recruiting three karate experts to take on a dope ring. Sonny's character was trained in the ninja arts, but has fallen on hard financial time. One of his cohorts is an ex-cop who is now a hit man and the other is a sleaze ball who Sonny has to break out of prison. After some cheap attempts to develop the plot and Sonny kicking ass, they go after the syndicate head while he's having some kind of party.

It's a little weak on the plot and there's way too much of the sleazy guy trying (in vain) to hook up with women, but it does have some pretty cool karate action. Sonny and the ex-cop banter back and forth, which gets a little annoying after a while. The sleazy guy doesn't really do much, except for shamelessly hitting on women (his character didn't advance the plot a whole lot), and some of the other karate experts were unremarkable.

Recommended only to true blue Chiba fans.

The Brutal, the Bad and the Bad-Ass - Sonny Chiba Rocks the Boat!

[Witchfinder-General-666 · 9/10 · 17 July 2009]

I recently watched two immortal Sonny Chiba Karate classics from the great Toei Company in one night, one being "The Street Fighter" (1974) and the other this gem named "Chokugeki! Jigoku-ken" aka. "The Executioner" from the same year. I couldn't possibly say which of these two I enjoyed more, both deserve their status as true greats of Japanese 70s exploitation. Whereas Shigheiro Ozawa's "Gekitotsu! Satsujin ken" is a raw and ultra-brutal film in which the almighty Mr. Chiba plays a ruthless killing-machine of an anti-hero, Teruo Ishii's "The Executioner" is also very violent, but a lot more humorous. I was a fan of director Ishii before seeing this film for some of his awesome contributions to the Pinky Violence genre (such as "Female Yakuza Tale", 1973), and this awesome flick even increased my admiration for the man. "The Executioner" is an incredibly entertaining flick that delivers everything an Exploitation lover could possibly desire - from martial arts and brutal, bloody violence, to wonderfully odd, typically Japanese humor, eccentric characters, sleaze and gratuitous female nudity, a funky score and great cinematography - "The Executioner" has it all.

Three men, the skilled ninja Ryuchi Koga (Sonny Chiba), the deadly assassin and former drug detective Takeshi Hayato (Makoto Satô), and the criminal and death-row escapee Ichiro Sakura (Eiji Go) are assigned to crush a drug ring which, due to diplomatic connections, is unaccessible to the law... All three leading men fit their roles very well, Chiba, of course, being the main attraction. The film obviously took a lot of inspiration from Spaghetti Westerns, most obviously from Sergio Leone's 1966 masterpiece "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly" (the best Western ever made, and probably my personal choice for the best film ever). The 'introduction' of Satô, for example, was almost taken over exactly from Lee Van Cleef's introduction in "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly" - only that this one features explicit gore and loads of sleaze. The character relations are also somewhat resemblant of those in GBU, although the distinction between 'good' and 'bad' is even more vague. Eiji "Tokyo Drifter" Go is the one responsible for most of the funny bits. Sonny Chiba's martial arts are, as always, absolutely amazing, and they come along with loads of brutality. Chiba plays a more likable character here than in the "Street Fighter" films, but he's kicking ass the violent way all the same. Beautiful Yutaka Nakajima, who also played the female lead in "The Street Fighter", is once again a welcome addition in her role here. To sum up: "The Executioner" is brutal, stylish, action-packed and fun in equal measures, and an absolute must for fans of Japanese Exploitation cinema. Sonny Chiba, we worship thee!

Brutal!

[GOWBTW · 10/10 · 17 March 2008]

This karate classic is one of a kind. Sonny Chiba is remember for his Street Fighter prowess plays a fighter with ninja skills who is recruited by a ex-cop now hit-man along with a another fighter who is a complete nincompoop and very sexy lady. They go after a drug syndicate who uses a deaf-mute as a pawn to their schemes. The death-scenes are a little more animated than gruesome. The fighting scenes are great as well. I liked the part where Sonny's character steps on the paint and painted the enemies up. More plans do come up, and the fighter wants to get more of his share of the cut. However, he trust in the boss is questionable. The crime syndicate gets more fighters to take on Sonny's character. Somehow, arrogance and egos clashed with some of the fighters which gave Sonny character an edge. This movie was rather corny in some areas, other than that, in was fun to watch in my opinion. A very big keeper. 5 stars!