Verdict
Summary
A vehicle for star Sakaguchi, whose particular skill in martial arts comes across as a combination of Steven Seagal’s effortless Aikido and stuff we saw in The Raid with nonstop close quarters encounters with legions of heavily armed bad guys against one dude, One Percent Warrior has a plot that intrigues, but unfortunately the execution of the film itself is a little off kilter and the fight choreography is not nearly as dynamic or attractive as it thinks it is.
Plot:
A Japanese action star’s latest film is besieged with cutthroat Yakuza killers … but for him, it’s no problem he can’t handle.
Review:
Action star Toshiro Takuma (Tak Sakaguchi) had a big hit with a game-changing martial arts masterpiece five years ago, and he’s been in search of an authentic piece of action cinema to star in ever since. He laments that he can’t seem to tap into the heart-stopping reality of cutting edge action that only real life can deliver, and when he agrees to star in a movie in a remote, run down area set in and around a warehouse, he first goes to scout the location with a small crew and suddenly Toshiro finds himself right in the middle of a do-or-die situation when two Yakuza gangs have descended on the warehouse when they come in search of a stash of drugs that have been left behind. When most of the film crew is quickly killed right away, Toshiro very quickly initiates himself as the only person who can dispatch both gangs at once, using his hands, feet, knives, guns, and even a flashlight to eliminate all comers. At times, he has a cowering cameraman filming his deadly use of force against the killers, and at times we get a sense that fiction and reality blend together for Toshiro whose wish for the next cutting edge, game-changing action film is suddenly happening before our very eyes.
A vehicle for star Sakaguchi, whose particular skill in martial arts comes across as a combination of Steven Seagal’s effortless Aikido and stuff we saw in The Raid with nonstop close quarters encounters with legions of heavily armed bad guys against one dude, One Percent Warrior has a plot that intrigues, but unfortunately the execution of the film itself is a little off kilter and the fight choreography is not nearly as dynamic or attractive as it thinks it is. Sakaguchi’s entire persona doesn’t come across very well on film here, and while I liked the movie’s approach, I just struggled with the very lackluster direction by Yamaguchi Yodai who worked with action director Sonomura Kensuki to create all the fights. Some of the film’s best moments work when it’s just Sakauchi in one-on-one fights, but when he’s taking on a bunch of guys at once I found it to be sloppy and unbelievable. When five guys have machine guns, why don’t they just fire at him instead of waiting for him to finish fighting a guy first? It makes no sense. Anyway, the movie has its moments, but it’s only a partial win in terms of action.
Well Go USA’s new Blu-ray release of One Percent Warrior is out now, and it comes with an English dubbed version (which was pretty horrendous, so try the subtitled version), a making-of feature, and the trailer. A DVD is also available.
