I watched the American version of this movie from the latest 6-Disc DVD release of a Sonny Chiba collection bought from the US. It was dubbed in English, and without any subtitles.The movie starts out in New York nonetheless, the first scene was typical setting for a hit. The next scene would be totally unrelated to the whole movie, it was a discussion on how would Chiba and Bruce Lee compare as actioned out by two actors trying hard to imitate them.The gritty rough face of Chiba here is I think a trademark from all his films, his dubbed voice however was not as tough as it Chiba would sound like. I think Americans wanted to release the movie with another movie to make it a Grindhouse feature presentation. As like Grindhouse movies, it has violence, nudity and terrible sequence of scenes that sometimes are overlong, or not important at all.The Bodyguard had an interesting plot to work with, however it did not deliver, the scenes were below par, the lines were cheesy, and the action was disappointing for a Chiba film. This would not be the one I would recommend to a person just starting to watch Sonny Chiba's movies. I was good enough to rate with a 5/10 despite the movie's weak showing.

This flick is kinda boring. The beginning should be a flash-back to Pulp Fiction (Sonny Chiba reads the Ezekial 25:17 quote). This is probably the coolest thing in this damn movie. Let me get this out of the way, I am a Sonny Chiba fan. However, even Sonny's karate strikes couldn't save this bore.Sonny plays himself (or some character with his name, it's never really explained). He offers his services up to anyone who is interested in taking on the drug syndicate in Tokyo. OK, thus far things sound alright. The problem is that the film drags on for at least 45 minutes before we start to realize where the plot is going and who the girl he is guarding is. When the action finally comes, don't expect Streetfighter like, fast paced, karate action. There isn't even the gratuitous gore or sarcastic one liners.Overall, Sonny's performance isn't bad, but this movie is hardly a good vehicle for his talents.

Anything that has Sonny Chiba deserves at least a 5. I don't know what idiot would only rate this movie at 3. This movie is good for anyone that can truly appreciate a solid martial arts movie. It is about a woman who drug bosses in Japan want to kill. She asks for a bodyguard and Sonny Chiba answers the call. The movie starts with a scene in which 2 men are pretending to be Bruce Lee and Sonny Chiba from the real world. While this has nothing to do with the movie, who hasn't played that scenario in their mind? It may be a slow movie, but that doesn't make it boring. I would recommend this movie to anyone who truly likes Sonny Chiba. On top of this, the movie starts with a little quote that is supposed to be from Ezekiel 29:17 (but it is not). This will be very interesting to all of you extremely cool Pulp Fiction fans.

After watching "The Bodyguard" last night, I felt compelled to write a review of it.This could have been a pretty decent movie had it not been for the awful camera-work. It was beyond annoying. The angles were all wrong, it was impossible to see anything, especially during the fight sequences. The closeups were even horrible.The story has Sonny Chiba hiring himself out as a bodyguard to anyone willing to lead him to the top of a drug ring. He is approached by Judy Lee, who is never quite straight with Chiba. Lee's involvement in the drug ring is deeper than Chiba thought, as the Mob and another gang of thugs are after her.The story was decent, and despite horrible dubbing, this could have been a good movie. Given better direction and editing, I'm sure this would have been a classic Kung Foo movie. As it is, it's more like another cheesy 70's action movie.Note: The opening sequence has a quote familiar to "Pulp Fiction" fans, and then continues to a karate school in Times Square that is in no way related to the rest of the movie.Rating: 4 out of 10