Bodyguard Kiba 2 (Japan, 1973) [VoD] -2.5/5
This interesting, but uneven sequel was an important turning point on Chiba's career. Chiba had been trying to introduce martial arts into his films for a while, the original Bodyguard Kiba (1973) being the most prominent example, but the problem had always been that most Japanese actors were not fit for physically demanding action films. To address this problem Chiba had opened his own acting school "Japan Action Club" (JAC) in 1970, but it still took a few years before Chiba got his gang together. Bodyguard Kiba 2 was the film where it finally happened.
JAC graduate and Chiba fangirl Etsuko Shihomi was the first addition to the team. Shihomi had joined JAC due to her admiration for Chiba, but had been too young to become a star before. Now, at the age of 17, she was finally ready for her first movie role as Kiba's sister. Though she doesn't have many scenes, the ones she appears in are loaded with both cuteness and fighting. It didn't take her long to become Japan's leading female martial arts actress, which happened with the following year's Sister Street Fighter (1974). She would also frequently play supporting roles in Chiba movies, such as The Street Fighter, The Killing Machine, and The Executioner 2: Karate Inferno.
An even more important addition to the team was Masashi Ishibashi. Ishibashi was a real life karate master and Chiba’s senior, who had been acting in movies for a while but had not done much action before. The word is that Ishibashi often visited Masutatsu Oyama's dojo as a quest instructor on his way back home (he couldn't be a full time instructor since his karate style was different from Oyama's). With Ishibashi on board Chiba had finally found an actor who could keep up with the choreographies even when films had to be completed at lighting pace. Ishibashi would go on to play villains in countless Chiba and Shihomi movies (e.g. The Street Fighter, Karate Bullfigher, Sister Street Fighter) in, and also work on the action choreography with Chiba.
Bodyguard Kiba 2 opens with each of the three stars giving their best in great night time fight in rain. Even Chiba fans who never saw the film have probably caught a glimpse of the fight as footage of it was featured in the theatrical trailer for Karate Bullfighter.
The rest of the film unfortunately does not live up to the great opening. Chiba is Kiba again, but this time he has fallen from grace and sent to prison for all the violent acts he has committed. Once he's out, he begins working as a bodyguard in a club that is crawling with gangsters. Never mind that he was a gangster hating hero that singlehandedly crushed a syndicate and even saved a passenger plane from criminals in the previous film! A man's got to earn money to cover his sister's hospital bills!
What happens next in the film is... not all that much. Chiba and bad guy Eiji Go go on about who's got a bigger, ehm, fist, and spend some time hanging out at the club. Things finally speed up when Chiba's prison pal Tsunehiko Watase is released. Turns out he was betrayed by the gang Chiba is now working for. It's a nice ninkyo yakuza film style twist, although unfortunately largely wasted with minimal character development (see the superb The Defensive Power of Aikido for a much better handing of a similar theme). Watase is good (as he always is), and although not really a martial artist, he does have a bit of karate experience from his student days. He would go on to star in Wicked Kempo, his only real martial arts film, in 1974.
Bodyguard Kiba 2 comes to its conclusion in an entertaining, though not classic, violent climax. If the rest of the film had been as good as the opening and closing fights, this would be a small gem. As it stands, Bodyguard Kiba 2 is more relevant for uniting Chiba, Shihomi and Ishibashi for the first time on screen. Their next collaboration, The Street Fighter, would be an all time classic.
* Original title: Bodigaado Kiba: Hissatsu sankaku tobi (ボディガード牙 必殺三角飛び)
* Director: Ryuichi Takamori
* Chiba's role: Starring role
* Film availability: VoD (Japan)
Side note: although the caps below are from the VHS quality VoD version, Toei has new HD scans of both Bodyguard Kiba films.
Chiba vs. Ishibashi
Chiba
Shihomi
Ishibashi
Shihomi and Masutatsu Oyama
Chiba looking frustrated
Well, that's one way to catch a knife
Good guys... no, just kidding. Bad guys obviously!
Chiba and Shihomi
Watase
Mean Chiba
Chiba kicking ass (or heads, to be more precise)
Poster 1
Poster 2
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