Bodyguard Kiba: Combat Apocolypse (1994 Video) User Reviews

I've seen worse!

[olz_15 · 4/10 · 18 September 2009]

I'm not saying this film is a masterpiece....

There's a lot of other words that would aptly describe this cinematic piece.

I'll cut to the chase: Takashi Miike's cinematic works are often so hit and miss so when one decides to watch an hour long b-movie yakuza martial arts film, one does not expect a masterwork in craft and execution. Nonethless, Miike's strong point is that he is so inventive, and I am happy to say that even this early in his career he still makes really entertaining 'bad' films. The content is particularly bad in comparison to is later works (some of which are actually surprising competent, in fact, very occasionally brilliant). Here we are barely able to suspend any sort of disbelief. The plot is ridiculous, and the action choreography is literally hit and miss (I swear I saw people scream and fly backwards when the air nearby them has been punched).

My verdict is an ambivalent one. If you like inventive bad-but-not-boring b-movie karate-yakuza films, then this one comes recommended.

An okay martial arts film from Japan

[ebiros2 · 3/10 · 7 June 2011]

Based on a comic by Ken Nakajo, and Ikki Kajiwara, Bodyguard Kiba is a story about a karate school teacher who sidelines as a bodyguard.

A request to hire a bodyguard comes into the dojo of Daito Karate school. Natsuki Kirishima (Noriko Arai) needs protection until she can meet her fiancé, she's paying high price for this which indicates the high level of danger but she doesn't give a reason why she needs protection. She has business in Taiwan, so Kiba goes to Taiwan with her. This turns out to be a part of a conspiracy by the Taiwanese karate school to take over the Daito karate school. Natsuki's brother who's a teacher at the karate school in Taiwan is also in on this, but the real culprit has plans to kill both Kiba and Natsuki.

Cheap heroism has been the hallmark of stories Ikki Kajiwara writes, and this one is a particularly bad example. There're no respect paid to the culture of the Taiwanese people, and in fact all the bad guys behave like a short tempered Japanese yakuza.

The actions are okay, and so is the story, but the details of this movie is rather sloppy. It probably was meant to be a B movie from the start, and although the actors puts in a fine show, the overall quality suffers from it. It's a decent quality for a martial arts movie and you have to watch it as what it is.

"If Your brother sins,go and show him his fault just between the two of you, if he listens to you,you have won your brother over."

[morrison-dylan-fan · 7/10 · 19 October 2019]

Gathering up titles to watch for a "Auteurs in '94" week of viewing,I excitingly went over to the IMDb page of Takashi Miike to find out his entries from the year. Having read about the BK films in the past,I was pleased to see that I would have a chance to meet the bodyguard Kiba.

View on the film:

Karate-chopping this straight to video flick in 62 minutes, (the credits play over twice!) directing auteur Takashi Miike displays a growing confidence in continuing to build upon a number of his major themes. Working with his future regular editor Yasushi Shimamura for the first time, Miike draws a line in the sand in the ways of the underworld, as the Heroic Bloodshed-inspired Kiba keeps his cool black shades and sharp suits on when taking tribal-dressed gang members down with swift moves hit in slow-motion.

Whilst his later major theme of LGBT has yet to blossom, Miike here stylishly lays out other things, cooked up in important conversations round dining tables, and the wonderful, jangly hyper-stylised head-turning visit to a strip club.

Continuing a collaboration with Miike that would last until 2006,the screenplay by Hisao Maki (who died in 2012) follows the direction Miike goes in, with a compact adaptation of the Ikki Kajiwara and Ken Nakagusuku's Manga, high-kicking pals Tetsu Daito and Naoto Kiba trying to keep their karate dojo open by doing off the books side jobs, leading to Kiba finding himself once again getting hired as a bodyguard.