Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky is a 1991 Hong Kong martial arts splatter film written and directed by Lam Nai-Choi, loosely based on the manga of the same name by Masahiko Takajo and Tetsuya Saruwatari. The film centres around Ricky Ho a young man with super-human power and fighting abilities who is sentenced to a private prison where the inmates are treated like slaves. He ultimately uses his incredible martial arts skills to destroy the corrupts officials and evil inmates.
The direction in the film was great from the first scene the film perfectly establishes its tone with an oversized van and prison transporting to the prisons through a massive entrance door like a cartoon, this combined with the overly dramatic music throughout the film helps set the tone. There is a good use of stylisation in the film with the inmates introducing themselves as the film pauses and text with a voice over pops up hat explains their crime. Despite being a fun dumb splatter film, the films give good hints about Ricky’s past and his strength with an x-ray scanner showing the bullets in him and him easy managing to whack the guards’ batons away giving creative hints of his past. There is great direction throughout the film such as Ricky and the brother of the man he recently killed bond over music as he can’t talk as someone has cut of his tong, so Ricky gives him a recorder. This allows a plot revelation to take place and Ricky find out about the prisons heroin business witch ultimately leads to the brother being killed as half of his face gets cut off. This then leads to a nice little moment in the story as Ricky collects his recorder from his corpse before snapping it.
One of the main villains in the film is the gang of four a group the controls the four wings of the prison cell. The Gang of Four end of having with Ricky and he ends up being tied up by knife through an interesting use of repeated editing and though the film they act as good side villains for Ricky. In a scene between Ricky and one of the members of the gang of four Tarzan a fighting when the room suddenly fills with cement and Ricky ultimately saves Tarzan’s life, but the cement hardens, and Ricky’s evidence regards the prisons opium business is destroyed. Tarzan then has another fight with Ricky as the roof lowers itself on them as Tarzan sacrifices himself to that Ricky can live. This is ultimately a nice little moment as it gives him a nice redeeming character arc and humanisation as Ricky leaners about his mum.
They then bury Ricky alive as punishment and plug his breathing tube and eats dog meat to stay alive. Afterwards they take Ricky out and integrate him. They keep him in place via a series of pipes he then has razor blades shoved in his mouth and is beaten with a wrench, which is a generally disturbing scene. Rick then spits out the razor blades at the head warden which is such a cool revenge scene to the warden at the point off Ricky.
At the end of the film the gory tone and style becomes insane. Ricky final springs into action to escape the prison. He kills Chu a bald prisoner who was working with the guards by knocking half of his head clean off in a great gory scene. He then attacks the assistant warden and uses him as a shield before fighting the last two members of the Gang of Four. The female member of the gang of four is defeated when Ricky chops their leg of and they beg for mercy, the fact that Ricky lets the live shows his character is that of a pacifist who does not want to use his power unless provoked to kill. The warden then kills the remaining member of the gang of four by shooting him with an explosive bullet with is a hilariously anticlimactic death for the character. The climax fight scene between Ricky and the warden is great. There is a great use of reciprocation where it seems like Ricky might lose however, he remembers what his uncle said about using your wits to beat appoints and throws him into the meat grinder in an amazingly bloody scene. The film ends in a truly epic way with Ricky showing that the warden has been defeated and escapes the prison by punching the wall to knock it down and walk out.
The acting in the film is good Fan Siu-Wong does a good job as Riki-Oh he plays a great over the top protagonist and the crazy fight scenes, martial arts, stunts, and amount of fake blood he had to be covered in is very commendable. Lam Kai-Wing plays a good piece of shit in Samuel the prison snitch who gets his dues in a gory and satisfying way. Frankie Chin plays a good captain on Hai who ends of getting his eye gauged out. The person that plays Mad Dragon does a good at being a mini boss for Ricky and his tall, large physique makes his a good over the top villain. Mei Sheng Fan does a great job as the assistant warden. He has a great unique design with his artificial eye and his hook for a hand from the first scene he is intruded in where he is cutting into a bloody steak, we see him as the perfect carton villain. Ka-Kui Ho does a great job as the warden. He plays a great sadistic character and is ultimately shown to be the true villain of the piece in gauging out a prisoner’s eye. There is a great use of foreshadowing in the form of the wardens pills he must take to control his power which builds up suspense until the climax of the film where he reveals his true form. Wong Kwok-leung is hilariously annoying as the warden’s son as an adult pretending to be a kid and really fits with the over-the-top nature of the film.
The film has an interesting opening with the description of the dystopian world where prisons are franchised business which is an interesting universe for this story to take place in. I like the little hints we have of his past such as the x-ray scene where we see the bullets in his chest. I like the fact that Ricky was strong and powerful as a child anyway it is only through the training with his uncle that he becomes even stronger. He smashes headstones to get stronger. We also get more hints to his past such as him being sentenced for manslaughter changes and getting to disappear for several years, as well as hints to the backstory of his girlfriend. Ricky’s pacifism is an interesting aspect that is shown throughout the film such as him carrying his body back to the prison and not wanting to fight the Gang of Four once they appear. I like that there are little bits of humanity shown throughout the film such as Ricky mourning over the brother of one of the members of the gang of Four. I really like all the flashbacks we get of Ricky’s past such as his master telling him he can overcome death as Ricky pounds his chest to jump start his heart.
The Backstory of why Ricky is in prison in the first place is really entraining and gives the character some humanity. Effectively his girlfriend walks into a load of people doing heroin and gets kidnapped. She tries to run away but falls to her death in which it looks like they just threw a mannequin of a building. Ricky finds out about this and seeks his revenge by caving in the head of the drug dealer outside of a club. There are nice little touches. Thought the film such as Ricky being given food by the prisoners and note that say don’t give up, as well as the repercussions of this as we see Chu grass up the prisoner to the warden and he ultimately dies.
The cinematography in the film whilst not amazing is perfectly fine. There is a good use of wide shots and low shots throughout the film showing the scale of the prison. There is some great cinematography in the rain as a Ricky places a toy train over a dead body. They are all also a great POV shot that turns into a third person perspire of Ricky.
The special effect in the film is ultimately what makes the movie. For all the films over the top gore the first gore scene was the block leader slices an old man’s face open is genially disturbing. The first comedic gore scene happens mere seconds later were the cell block leader gets tripped up by Ricky and lands on nails with is gory and hilarious. The fight scene between Ricky and Zorro is great gory fun, especially for one moment were Ricky punches a hole in his stomach and spills his blood and intestines everywhere. There is a great scene were a guy in charge of the cell come at Ricky with a nail only for Ricky to break his hand and pull the nail out like its nothing only to beat him to a bloody pulp.
The scene was the assistant warden stabs Ricky’s with his claw arm and ricks breaks the table and almost punches him they face causing him to bleed. The film has a fun gore scene when Hai the leader of Ricky’s wing stabs a guy for disrespecting him is a great moment. The scene with Ricky and Hai where Ricky has his eyes blinded and breaks a manhole cover to get the shads out of him eyes. This scene is untimely great with Hai’s eye getting popped before he strangles him with his own intestines. They way that the scene ends great with a visual of Ricky breaking Hai’s face which is shown from the perspective of an x-ray.
A good effect happens when half of a prisons face gets cut of off and he gets skinned alive. There is an interesting visual effect were one of the members attacks Ricky with his fists and the multiple versions used makes the scene very surreal. There is a great gory imagery as the prisoners stab the assistant warden in the neck with a broken bottle and cuts off one of his arms. In this scene Ricky punches through the chest of one of guard’s which is great gory imagery. During the climax of the film the gore goes completely insane. The warden puts one of the prisoners’ arms into a giant mincing machine. An hilarious effect is when the warden shoots the assistant warden for him to explode is great. The special effects during the climax are fantastic when the warden transforms into a monster and is forced into the meat grinder are amazing a are a perfect bloody climax to the film.
Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky is one of my favourite films of all time. The film is a crazy fun insane ride and one-off the most insane films ever made.