Lik Wong (1991)

Director:

Ngai Kai Lam

Writers:

Tetsuya Saruwatari (manga "Riki-oh")
Ngai Kai Lam (screenplay)

Release Date:

9 April 1991 (Japan)

Genre:

Action | Crime | Thriller

Plot:

A young man with superhuman strength is incarcerated at a prison run by corrupt officials and seeks to use his martial arts to clean up the system.

Plot Keywords:

Prison | Torture | Martial Arts | Gash In The Face | Stabbing

Cast

  (Credited cast)

Siu-Wong Fan	...	Riki-Oh Saiga
Mei Sheng Fan	...	Assistant Warden (as Faan Mooi Saang)
Ka-Kui Ho	...	Warden Sugiyama
Yukari Ôshima	...	Yomi - Huang Chaun
Frankie Chin	...	Narumi - Hai
Tetsurô Tanba	...	Master Zhang Shan-Gui
Gloria Yip	...	Keiko - Riki's Girlfriend
Philip Kwok	...	Lin Hung
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Suet Lam
Daan Bob Chit Long
Ji Keung Wong
Cheng Chuen Yam	...	Wildcat

Also Known As:

King of Strength (International: English title) (literal title)
Li wang (Hong Kong: Mandarin title)
Riki Ô
Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky (USA)
Story of Ricky (Hong Kong: English title)
Historia de Ricky (Spain) [es]

MPAA:

Rated R for strong violence and gore, and for some drug content.

Runtime:

Germany:91 min | Japan:91 min | USA:88 min (unrated version)

Country:

Hong Kong | Japan

Language:

Cantonese

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Germany:18 | Hong Kong:III | Spain:18 | UK:18 | USA:NC-17 | USA:R (edited for re-rating) | West Germany:(Banned) | Ireland:(Banned) | Finland:K-18 | Australia:R | New Zealand:R18 | Taiwan:R-18 | Sweden:15 | South Korea:18 | Philippines:R-18 | Norway:18 | Netherlands:16 | Mexico:C | Malaysia:(Banned) | Japan:R-15 | Italy:VM18 | Ireland:18 (re-rating) (2002) | Hungary:18 | France:-16 | Czech Republic:18 | Chile:18 | Canada:R (British Columbia/Ontario) | Canada:R (Alberta/Manitoba/Prince Edward Island) | Canada:18 (Nova Scotia) | Canada:18+ (Quebec) | Brazil:18

Company:

Diagonal Pictures

Trivia:

So much and so thick was the fake blood used in the "Meat Grinder" finale that Siu-Wong Fan, the actor who played Ricky, could not wash the red off his skin for three days.

Quotes:

[in American DVD subtitles]
Uncle: You were as strong as a bull, and so I named you Ricky.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Dogma (1999)

A Freaky Movie

"Riki Oh" is a frightening piece of work. Some of the bizarrest stuff ever put on celluloid to my knowledge. Every single frame is bursting with insanity and confusion. Don't even try to understand it, you might as well try to divide large numbers in your head for an hour and a half.

Riki is a very hunky prisoner in a future where corporations control everything. I know this information because the producers felt it necessary to put this in TWO different captions at the start of the film. Just so we know.

Young Riki gets into a lot of trouble both with the guards and his fellow inmates. This allows him to rip his shirt off a lot and expose his flexed chest (Seriously, the guy takes his shirt about once every thirty seconds. He puts it back on just so he can take it off again.).

Somehow Riki was given supernatural powers that really help in a prison riot. You see Riki can punch through just about anything, be it animal, mineral or vegetable. He punches through walls, desks, pipes, bars, and lots of human bodies. Yes that's correct, he punches through people. Their arms, legs, stomachs, and sometimes heads.

This excessive violence lends the film to excessive gore. We're talking spilled jugs of Kool-Aid excessive. And you get to see it all; although the worst gore is rarely on screen for more than a split second. Still you get to see a guy eat razors, a person explode like a balloon and one guy get put in a huge meat grinder. Yummy!

The copy I saw was dubbed, and that only added to the fun. I recommend this movie, solely for goofing on it. Otherwise, it is a very bad film. Only for those with a good sense of humor. You have been warned.