Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky

Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Lam Nai-choi
Written by	Lam Nai-choi Tetsuya Saruwatari
Based on	Riki-Oh by Masahiko Takajo and Tetsuya Saruwatari
Produced by	Chan Dung Chow
Starring	Fan Siu-wong Fan Mei-sheng Ho Ka-kui Yukari Oshima Frankie Chen
Production company	Diagonal Pictures
Distributed by	Golden Harvest
Release date	5 October 1991 (1991-10-05) (Japan) 9 April 1992 (1992-04-09) (Hong Kong)
Running time	91 minutes
Country	Hong Kong
Language	Cantonese
Box office	HK$2,147,778

Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky (Chinese: 力王), also known as Story of Ricky, is a 1991 Hong Kong martial arts splatter film written and directed by Lam Nai-Choi, and based on the Japanese manga Riki-Oh by Masahiko Takajo and Saruwatari Tetsuya. The film stars Fan Siu-wong, Fan Mei-sheng (Siu-wong's real-life father), Ho Ka-kui, Gloria Yip, and Yukari Oshima.

Fan Siu-wong plays Ricky Ho Lik Wong (Lik Wong is the character's given name, but the subtitles use the anglicized "Ricky") who is a young man who has super-human power and fighting abilities. Yukari Oshima stars as Huang Chung (Rogan in the English dub). The English title given on screen is simply Story of Ricky but later releases were sold under the title Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky. It had a limited theatrical release in the United States in 1993. It is well known for its acting, story, extremely brutal and highly unrealistic violence, as well as its high camp factor and extremely poor English dubbing (although versions in Cantonese and Mandarin are also available). The film is considered a cult film.^[1]

Plot[]

By the year 2001, all correctional facilities have been privatized. Lik Wong/Ricky Ho, a martial artist, and former music student, is sentenced to 10 years in prison for manslaughter after killing a crime lord indirectly responsible for the death of his girlfriend Keiko/Anne after a group of thugs chased her off the building to her death after witnessing their heroin deal. It is revealed in a flashback Ricky's name as a child was Rick, but his uncle, after seeing how strong he was, decided the name Ricky was more suitable. It is also revealed that Ricky has multiple bullets inside him that he received from his attack on the crime lord, which he refused to remove because he considers them souvenirs.

An elderly inmate, Ma/Omar, is attacked by the captain of the cells Wildcat/Samuel. Ricky trips Samuel, who falls face first on a well placed piece of wood with nails. After this, one of the inmates suggests that Mad Dragon/Zorro, a dangerous, morbidly obese inmate should kill him. Omar is informed by the guards that his probation was turned down after Samuel lies, telling the guards that Omar was spreading dirty rumors. Stricken by grief, Omar hangs himself. Zorro attacks Ricky in the shower room, but is easily killed and gutted by Ricky's bare hands. Ricky thwarts Samuel's attack, squeezing his hands until all his fingers broke before punching a hole in his stomach, killing him as well.

Shortly after, a member of the Four Heavenly Kings ("Gang of Four" in the English dub) named Hai/Oscar the leader of the North Cell, suggests that Ricky see the one-eyed Assistant Warden Dan. The warden shoots Ricky with a gun only for Ricky to slap the bullet away and retaliate by punching the air so hard the Warden starts bleeding. After Ricky's confrontation, Dan suggests Oscar kill him. Outside the prison yard, Oscar and Ricky engage in a fight. After losing an eye due to a backhand slap from Ricky, Oscar cuts a hole in his stomach and uses his intestines to strangle Ricky. Ricky breaks free, delivering a skull crushing blow which kills Oscar. Ricky soon discovers that the Gang of Four is growing illegal opium for profit. Huang Chung/Rogan, leader of the West Cell, discovers Ricky set the poppy garden on fire, leading to a fight. Brandon, leader of the South Cell, throws needles to tie Ricky up with them, leaving him defenseless. Meanwhile, the guards report to Dan that the Warden is returning from his vacation, prompting Dan to raise the Zero Alarm, causing the defense system to shoot anyone outside their cell. As the fight continues, Tarzan, leader of the East Cell, arrives announcing his intent to fight Ricky but leaves along with the Gang as the Zero Alarm goes off.

The next day, the Warden and his spoiled son return from their vacation. Dan informs the Warden about the incidents, including the poppy garden. This infuriates the Warden, almost transforming him into a Hulk-like creature, though he prevents it by taking medication. As the Warden tortures and questions Ricky, Tarzan bursts through the wall to fight Ricky, which ends in Ricky dismembering half of Tarzan's left arm and breaking his mandible. The Warden activates a ceiling trap on Ricky who struggles to stay alive. Tarzan regains consciousness and holds the ceiling, only to unintentionally save Ricky by being crushed himself. After escaping, Ricky finds a photo showing Tarzan had a family waiting for him. The Warden orders the inmates bury Ricky alive, which they reluctantly obey. The Warden proposes if Ricky survives underground for a week, he will free him. Ricky does survive by eating dog meat, however, the Warden denies him freedom. Later that night, Ricky is brought food by an inmate Freddy. Another inmate informs Dan, the prison snitch, who mortally wounds Freddy. Dan then opens Ricky's cell to taunt him. However, Ricky breaks free and kills the snitch by punching the top half of his head off and then knocks out Dan's remaining eye. The inmates then rebel and violently ambush Dan, chopping off his arm. A prison riot team arrives only for Ricky to easily punch holes in their bodies.

In the kitchen, Ricky, the prisoners, and Dan burst through the wall. The Warden shoots Dan with a homemade gas-pressured bullet, causing him to inflate and violently explode. Rogan and Brandon confront Ricky, who gravely injures Rogan by tying her limbs together. Brandon, realizing Ricky is far too powerful for him, flees from the scene, but not before the Warden shoots and kills him. The Warden, revealing that he too, is a martial artist who also went to the same school as Ricky, loses control and finally transforms into a grotesque Incredible Hulk creature and battles Ricky. The fight ends with Ricky crippling and throwing the mutated Warden into a meat grinder, turning him into ground beef. The prisoners rebel once again and start to attack the guards until Ricky reaches the prison wall, throwing the warden's mutated head at the frightened guards, and breaking the wall. Ricky declares to all the prisoners, "You're all free now," allowing the prisoners and himself to go free.

Cast[]

Production[]

The plot closely follows the events depicted in the original Japanese comic and its anime adaptation, with some minor modifications in certain instances.

The film is notorious for its excessive use of graphic violence and gore, primarily due to the fact that the lead character is practically invincible, has impossibly great strength and can virtually withstand all pain, which is partially explained by Ricky being a practitioner of a superhuman form of qigong. This leads to attempts by other characters to subdue him which end up being extremely gory and over-the-top.

Aside from the aforementioned head crushing and meat grinding scenes, most notable.^[2]

Reception[]

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Box office[]

Riki-Oh received a Category III rating (viewers under 18 not allowed). It was one of the first Hong Kong movies to receive such a rating for non-erotic content. This rating greatly inhibited the film's ability to make money at the box office. The film grossed $2,147,778 HKD in Hong Kong.

Critical response[]

On the aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes, Riki-Oh has an approval rating of 89% by 9 reviews, and with an average rating of 7.1/10.^[3] Michael Atkinson of The Village Voice called it "a rather astonishing, starkly stylized blood flood set inside a privatized prison."^[4] Kurt Ramschissel of Film Threat gave the film 5 stars, saying that "the violence comes fast and furious and is just as outrageous and over-the-top as Sam Raimi or Peter Jackson ever were."^[5] J.R. Jones from the Chicago Reader said, "If you can handle the torrent of grisly violence, you'll find yourself royally entertained by this Hong Kong actioner."^[6]

Home media[]

In the U.S., Tokyo Shock released it on a bare bones DVD in 2000. In 2002, Hong Kong Legends released their DVD in Region 2 territories.^[7] In 2003, Fortune Star (formerly Mega Star), current holders of the Golden Harvest library from Media Asia, released a Remastered version of the film on a 3 disc set along with The Dragon from Russia and City Hunter.

The film was released on Blu-ray by Media Blasters in 2011.^[8] Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky became available in its original Chinese with hard-coded English subtitles on Netflix's Instant Streaming service in mid-2012. The film aired on Turner Classic Movies on 2 November 2012 and 14 April 2013 as part of TCM Underground. In the UK, the film was first released on Blu-ray from a new HD restoration by Mediumrare Entertainment in 2015^[9] before going out of print. In 2021, British distributors 88 Films released their own Blu-ray edition of the film with new remastered English subtitles and both Cantonese and English audio tracks.^[10]

Legacy[]

Riki-Oh has been cited as an influence on the Mortal Kombat series of fighting games. Similarities include the gory fatality finishing moves, the resemblance between Ricky and Liu Kang, and the X-ray attack.^[11][12] One scene, showing a character crushing another character's skull with his bare hands, later became a regular fixture on The Daily Show during Craig Kilborn's time as the host.

It was alleged that a sequel titled Dint King Inside King (a.k.a. Story of Ricky 2 or Super Powerful Man) was released in Hong Kong in 2005, though the plot does not follow the events that supposedly occur after Ricky breaks out of prison, and is set in the distant future as opposed to 2001 for the first film. The film was never released in the United States or in Europe but is available on DVD (without English subtitles) through Panorama Entertainment. Oddly, and possibly due to rights issues, the film is built as a stand-alone project despite casting Fan Siu-wong in the title role, sporting the camouflage poncho seen in flashbacks and in the manga. Even the characters have different names (Ricky's name is He Shen in this film).

References[]

External links[]

• Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky at IMDb
• Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky at AllMovie
• Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky at Rotten Tomatoes
• Riki-Oh 2 at IMDb
• Riki-Oh 2 at Hong Kong Cinemagic