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Released by: Adness
Released on: 4/26/2005
Director: Toru Murakawa
Cast: Yusaku Matsuda, Sonny Chiba, Kei Sato, Jun Fubuki, Mikio Narita, Asao Koike
Year: 1979
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The Movie:
There's something just plain bad ass about seventies action films from Japan. Sure, the Italians did a fine job with their cop films of the film and you certainly can't discount the American entries like the Dirty Harry films or the Bronson movies that were being pumped out of the studios, but the Japanese action films had different kind of grit that's hard to explain. Resurrection Of Golden Wolf is a prime example of that special kind of seventies Japanese grit.
An afro'd Yusaku Matsuda (of Black Rain) plays Asakura, an employee of the Towa Oil company by trade. Asakura's got a lot more going on though than just his gig as an accountant for the large corporation - in his spare time he's managed to rob a bank of over a million Yen. He finds himself in hot water though when he discovers that all of the bills are marked, making them very difficult, if not impossible, to spend. Being the clever bastard that he is, he figures he can buy a truckload of smack with the marked bills and sell the dope for a tidy profit, seeing as he'll get a quantity discount, and in turn make the marked bills some unlucky dope peddler's problem.
While Asakura is doing his thing, there's another scam artist making the rounds in the office. Sakurai (Sonny Chiba of The Street Fighter films) and his lovely ladyfriend have uncovered some dirt on the higher ups at Towa Oil and are using that information to blackmail a few of the big wigs for a sizeable amount of cold hard cash. When Asakura nd Sakurai eventually figure one another out, they decide to go for the big one and make out like bandits but things, of course, don't go as planned and they find themselves in a situation far more dangerous than either one of them had initially planned for.
Yusaku Matsuda does a fantastic job with his character in this film that is all about contrast. Handling both sides of Asakura's life with ease, he's believable both as an accountant and as a conniving theif, his wild hair and intense gaze giving him an aire of intensity that really works nicely in the movie's favor. Seeing him on screen with Chiba is a blast and the two hardboiled men have a natural chemistry together. It's this chemistry that is the film's strongest point, and it makes excellent use of it's two main male stars.
While Resurrection Of Golden Wolf starts out remarkably strong with it's wild camera work and oddball seventies fashions and locales, it does tend to drag a little bit in the middle. At over two hours long, at times it feels like the editor could have been a little more active in his role, but all is forgiven once the ending comes around and it's all about the action once again.
Sex. Violence. Strange Hair. Sonny Chiba. This one's got pretty much everything you could want out of a rough and tumble beat'em up and watch'em bleed action film, and that's only a good thing.
Video/Audio/Extras:
Adness gives the film a solid, though not perfect, 1.85.1 anamorphic widescreen transfer. While there isn't much to complain about in the way of print damage, mpeg compression or edge enhancement there is some mild color fading present as well as some moderate grain that you'll notice in the darker scenes. Regardless, even with those two strikes against it the transfer comes out on top. It's definitely above average for a 70s Japanese action film and overall it looks pretty nice.
The Dolby Digital Stereo Japanese language sound mix sounded just fine to my ears. Dialogue was up enough in the mix that it was never overdone by the sound effects or the ultra 70s wah-wah background music (the score on this film is fantastic… where's the soundtrack CD?). The subtitles were clean and easy to read and didn't contain any typos.
Patrick Macias' liner notes, printed on the back of the cover but readable easily enough through the clear plastic keepcase in which the package is housed, are a pretty interesting read. They compare the film's intentions with the emasculated Japanese worker drone man that was steadily becoming the norm at the time that this film was made. Read them before you watch the film as it might open up some of the context for you if you've never seen it before.
Other than that, Adness supplies trailers for the feature attraction as well as for Shikoku, Never Give Up, Shadow Of The Wraith, Inugami, and Isola.
The Final Word:
Yusaku Matsuda does a great job as the pissed off tough guy lead and it's always sheer bliss to see Chiba do his thing. While at times it's hard to like most of the characters the story moves along reasonably well and the action scenes are solid, even if the film is a little overlong. Resurrection Of Golden Wolf is a solid Japanese exploitation film and Adness' DVD does a very nice job with the material.