Even if your tears are streaming down it.”
Soldier-turned action film star Toshiro Takuma (Tak Sakaguchi, Bad City, Versus) has been trained in assassination-jutsu and zero range combat. He brags about his ability to dodge bullets and kill a man. His first film, Birth, was a huge success. However, over the past ten years since, he has had trouble replicating this. Toshiro is obsessed with the idea of showing realism in action films—he’s not a fan of how modern film fight sequences are pre-rehearsed and come off as more of a choreographed dance. This often puts him at odds with directors, other stuntmen and his costars. Toshiro says that only 1 out of every 100 martial artists are truly able to master their craft, and he is one of these One-Percenters. Toshiro has decided that if no one is going to make a “Real Action” movie, he will have to do so himself, and so he enlists the help of his young apprentice Akira (Fukuyama Kohei) to help. They find a location to film the movie on a remote island, the site of an abandoned zinc factory, only to discovery that the location manager had double-booked, and another film crew is already there—making the exact kind of over-choregraphed action movie that Toshiro detests. But things quickly take a dark turn as gunfire breaks out, and they find themselves in the middle of a turf war between two rival yakuza gangs.
The chairman of the Kurokawa-kai organized crime syndicate had recently been killed, and others are eager to fill the power void. Takenouchi (Sho Aoyagi, The Blood of Wolves II, Yakuza Apocalypse) has taken the former chairman’s daughter Maria (Rumika Fukuda) to the island to force her to show him where her father has hidden a large supply of drugs. However, another rival yakuza gang leader, Shishido (Norihisa Hiranuma), has brought his own large private army to take out Takenouchi and claim the business for himself. When Toshiro sees what’s going on, he decides this is the perfect opportunity to make the movie he has always wanted to, and asks Akira to film everything as he saves the girl and takes on these trained tactical soldiers and martial artists.
At first Toshiro is this mysterious unknown force, causing havoc for Shishido’s men. Shishido refers to the unknown martial arts assailant as “Jackie Chan”, before he even discovers that this man actually is an action movie star. In addition to his army, Shishido is also accompanied by his odd and slightly psychotic teenage daughter Ami (Narumi Kanon), who is even more ruthless than her father, and looks the part of a villain, with her crutch and wooden leg, and her silent personal bodyguard/teacher, Kijima (Togo Ishii), who will later face off with Toshiro in an epic martial arts battle. They are determined to stop Toshiro, but have severely underestimated just what they are up against.
While Toshiro doesn’t like to kill his enemies, he doesn’t show them any mercy either, taking on squads of well-trained mercenaries, breaking legs, and snapping collar bones and hamstrings to brutally and permanently incapacitate his attackers. He is very resourceful, using whatever he can find to turn into a weapon. At one point he picks up a flashlight, which he uses both as a weapon to deliver blows, but also to temporarily blind and disorient those he is up against. This leads to some really exciting action sequences. The abandoned factory makes the perfect setting for all of this to play out, as Toshiro weaves his way through scaffolding, staircases and corridors taking wave after wave of enemy.
One-Percent Warrior is quite a unique film, blending in brutal action with some more dramatic moments and twists, while also making some odd choices in the score—one of the big battles is set to Debussy’s “Claire de Lune”. There is also a lot of humor thrown in We see this a lot in Toshiro’s more stoic nature and dry statements, and with scenes involving stunt company owner Tony Shin (Suruga Taro) and two of his dim-witted stuntmen, Koji and Tatsuya, who also end up on the island. There’s also a really fun training sequence with Toshiro and his young apprentice, as Toshiro tries to teach Akira how to dodge bullets. The villains can also be a bit campy, especially teenager Ami, who often steals the scene.
The film is written and directed by Yûdai Yamaguchi (The ABCs of Death, Deadball), with action choreography by Kensuke Sonomura (Hydra, Baby Assassins). The fight sequences are really well done, with Toshiro finding increasing brutal ways to decapacitate his enemies. The film also has some beautiful sweeping shots as Toshiro weaves his way ninja-like through the abandoned factory. There was only one scene where it felt like you could see that the guns were rubber, with the muzzle flapping to the side during a fight.
Well Go’s Blu-ray looks good and sounds great. The picture generally looks clean with a solid level of detail throughout, even in darker sequences, such as when Toshiro is fighting off men with a flashlight. There is other more stylized sequences that successfully achieve their desired look, such as shots from Akira’s cell phone, or old DVD footage of Toshiro.
The film is offered both in its original Japanese audio as well as in an English dub. I found the English dub to be pretty decent overall, with just a few minor points near the beginning, as Toshiro is working on a movie set, where the voice performances didn’t quite work. However, both tracks make excellent use of the surround sound, especially when the action kicks in at the cavernous abandoned factory, where things tend to echo a bit.
Well Go’s Blu-ray release actually includes some bonus material this time around in addition to the usual trailers. A 25-minute Making Of featurette consists of two long interviews with stars Tak Sakaguchi and Togo Ishii. The Blu-ray comes packed in a locking HD keepcase. There is no digital copy, but our review copy did include a nice cardboard slipcover.
What’s Included:
Film: (1:25:07)
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Blu-ray:
- 1080p / Widescreen 2.39:1
- Audio: Japanese 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio, Japanese Stereo, English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio, English Stereo
- Subtitles: English
Extras:
- Making Of (25:22)
Interviews with two of the film’s stars. Tak Sakaguchi (“Takuma Toshiro”) discusses the difference between modern action movies and real action movies, how he learned combat techniques, making Re:Born, how combat techniques differ from martial arts, coming up with the techniques for the film, why he wanted Togo Ishii to appear, and filming their big fight. Togo Ishii (“Kijima”) talks about being offered the role when he hadn’t acted before, the difference between sparring and fighting for the camera, his Jeet Kune Do style of fighting, applying his skills to the role, the hardest parts to film, filming the final battle with Toshiro, advice he got from Tak Sakaguchi, the scene paying homage to Bruce Lee, his impressions of Tak when he saw him on set, and if he’d fight him again. Presented in Japanese with English subtitles and on-screen text stating the questions being asked. Includes behind-the-scenes footage. - Trailer (2:01)
- Previews
- Monster (2:28)
- Alienoid: Return to the Future (1:02)
- Noryang: Deadly Sea (1:28)
Final Thoughts:
Overall, One-Percent Warrior is an entertaining film that finds this nice blend of action and humor. The film has some interesting visual elements and an unusual choice of score that help make it a fun experience. There’s also a bit of a twist to keep things interesting. Well Go’s Blu-ray release looks and sounds great, offers an English dub for those who prefer that, and even includes some bonus material. The release is worth a look for Tak Sakaguchi fans, and those who just enjoy an entertaining martial arts film. The film will also be streaming exclusively on Hi-YAH! starting April 5.
One-Percent Warrior [Blu-ray]
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