02-08-2025, 11:10 PM
Karate Bearfighter (1975)
The second installment loses its way a bit. It opens with scenes of the real Mas Oyama in the front credits. Then it’s back to Oyama challenging dojos and kicking everyone’s ass. He gets kicked out of the karate federation and becomes a henchman for an old Air Force buddy who is now a crime boss. He meets an Oyama impersonator selling body building herbs on the street. After befriended him and his fiancé, the fiancé dies trying to escape a rape and the impersonator does trying to take revenge on the rapist.
Then in act 2, Oyama is taking the couple’s to bury them where they dreamed of relocating and a kid steals it when Oyama is peeing. The kid has an abusive alcoholic father and Oyama scolds them when reclaiming the ashes. The dad has a sudden change of heart and takes a job as a tree cutter but then is injured and need a doctor but they have no money. Oyama agrees to fight a bear for the money.
The bear fight is ridiculous. Unlike the bull fight in the previous movie which used a real bull, the bear is a guy in a bear suit. Jiggly shadowy camerawork attempts to disguise that but it’s the mid 70s and the start of bear suits is unconvincing.
Chiaki - Oyama’s love interest continues to pine for him. It struck me how that relationship is akin to Musashi & Otsu in Mifune’s Samurai Trilogy - a devoted beauty whose loyalty is unrequited as the master can’t be distracted from his quest to be the best. Oyama is doing the same thing, same quest, different style. This feels highly derivative. The difference is Oyama wins over Chiaki by raping her. That’s disturbingly believable, but it plays out like an innocent romance afterward and that doesn’t feel right at all.
There’s a sword fight. Some hired assassins with katanas. Oyama gets a katana from one of his would be killers and swordplay ensues, but it’s not very good. Oyama blocks a cut and then closes in to kick or punch his opponent - that’s how most of the exchanges play out.
Rather disappointed that this film couldn’t sustain the momentum of the first. We shall see if it sticks the landing.
Part 2 isn’t D00M recommended even though it might have more fights. Seen on the Internet Archive.
The second installment loses its way a bit. It opens with scenes of the real Mas Oyama in the front credits. Then it’s back to Oyama challenging dojos and kicking everyone’s ass. He gets kicked out of the karate federation and becomes a henchman for an old Air Force buddy who is now a crime boss. He meets an Oyama impersonator selling body building herbs on the street. After befriended him and his fiancé, the fiancé dies trying to escape a rape and the impersonator does trying to take revenge on the rapist.
Then in act 2, Oyama is taking the couple’s to bury them where they dreamed of relocating and a kid steals it when Oyama is peeing. The kid has an abusive alcoholic father and Oyama scolds them when reclaiming the ashes. The dad has a sudden change of heart and takes a job as a tree cutter but then is injured and need a doctor but they have no money. Oyama agrees to fight a bear for the money.
The bear fight is ridiculous. Unlike the bull fight in the previous movie which used a real bull, the bear is a guy in a bear suit. Jiggly shadowy camerawork attempts to disguise that but it’s the mid 70s and the start of bear suits is unconvincing.
Chiaki - Oyama’s love interest continues to pine for him. It struck me how that relationship is akin to Musashi & Otsu in Mifune’s Samurai Trilogy - a devoted beauty whose loyalty is unrequited as the master can’t be distracted from his quest to be the best. Oyama is doing the same thing, same quest, different style. This feels highly derivative. The difference is Oyama wins over Chiaki by raping her. That’s disturbingly believable, but it plays out like an innocent romance afterward and that doesn’t feel right at all.
There’s a sword fight. Some hired assassins with katanas. Oyama gets a katana from one of his would be killers and swordplay ensues, but it’s not very good. Oyama blocks a cut and then closes in to kick or punch his opponent - that’s how most of the exchanges play out.
Rather disappointed that this film couldn’t sustain the momentum of the first. We shall see if it sticks the landing.
Part 2 isn’t D00M recommended even though it might have more fights. Seen on the Internet Archive.
Shadow boxing the apocalypse