Remember the scene in THE BODYGUARD where Sonny Chiba punches through a door, rips off an assassin's arm, pulls the bloody arm through the hole in the door, then kicks open said door, charges into the room and flings the arm at another assassin, knocking him on his ass? Nothing in this sequel even comes close to that level of savage hilarity, though I'm happy to report that it is a better film overall. It certainly moves faster than the first one. Bodyguard Kiba destroys special guest star Masashi Ishibashi for blinding his sister Maki (Etsuko Shihomi) during a dispute between karate schools, gets sent to prison, befriends Okinawan crook Nanjo (Tsunehiko Watase) behind bars, is let out of prison and picked up by a beautiful woman (Yukiko Kuwahara) with a job offer, all in the first 10 minutes! Kiba's latest gig is protecting nightclub owner Akamatsu (Akiyoshi Fukae) from backstabbing business partner Tatsumi (Hideo Murata) and his pack of karate thugs. Years earlier, both men were part of a team that killed some American MPs during a robbery of $420,000 and double-crossed Nanjo, who has just been released from prison and is looking for his share of the loot. There are a few too many coincidences in the storytelling, and for a movie called KARATE KILLER it seems a little light on karate, but it's never boring and the bit where one of Tatsumi's thugs tries his hardest not to pour a beer for Chiba is very funny.
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