Ricky-oh: The Story Of Ricky (1991)
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89% of critics liked it
(9 reviews) -
82% of users liked it
(8,443 ratings)
In the year 2001, many government institutions have become privatized commercial ventures, like the men's prison where young Riki-Oh (Sui-Wong Fan) is sentenced to 20 years for manslaughter and assault. The ruthless gangsters who control the prison break an old man's face open in the prison… More In the year 2001, many government institutions have become privatized commercial ventures, like the men's prison where young Riki-Oh (Sui-Wong Fan) is sentenced to 20 years for manslaughter and assault. The ruthless gangsters who control the prison break an old man's face open in the prison lavatory as the film begins. The nearly superhuman Ricky trips one of the guards so his face is impaled on a spiked board in retaliation, and vows to avenge the old man when he hangs himself in despair. When the guards send the huge, Sumo-like Zorro after him in the prison shower, Ricky bloodily disembowels the man with his bare hands and apparently breaks another man in half with a single punch. Ricky is taken to the assistant warden, who has a metal hook-hand and a glass eye (he keeps mints in the socket). He impales Ricky's hand with his hook and beats him, but is quickly reduced to quaking fear by Ricky's incredible abilities. In an outrageous fight scene, a gangster named Oscar cuts Ricky's arm open with a knife and throws ground glass in his eyes, but Ricky ties his own veins together and knocks Oscar's eyeball out with a sharp cuff to the back of the head. Oscar then commits hara-kiri and tries to strangle Ricky with his own intestines before dying. There's a head broken like a vase, a saw-toothed machete to the face, people skinned alive, and the main plot -- Ricky fighting the evil opium-growing crooks running the prison -- gets somewhat lost in the flood of gore and guts, but it doesn't matter a bit. ~ Robert Firsching, Rovi
- Directed By
- Ngai Kai Lam
- Written By
- Tetsuya Saruwatari, Ngai Kai Lam
- Genres
- Drama, Action & Adventure, Art House & International, Mystery & Suspense
R,
- In Theaters
- Jan 1, 2002 Wide
Critic Reviews
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J. R. Jones, Chicago Reader
If you can handle the torrent of grisly violence, you'll find yourself royally entertained by this Hong Kong actioner.
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Michael Atkinson, Village Voice
A rather astonishing, starkly stylized blood flood set inside a privatized prison.
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Douglas Pratt, DVDLaser
A wild martial arts feature that combines a prison movie setting with the sort of gore effects one normally finds in a horror film.
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Beth Accomando, KPBS.org
Gore galore but not much more.
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Kurt Ramschissel, Film Threat
You should have been running to the video store before you got to this sentence.
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