(aka "Satsujin ken 2" or "Return of the Street Fighter")
directed by Ozawa Shigehiro
Japan 1974
In this impressive follow-up to ”Street fighter”, Chiba
returns as Tsurugi Takuma, the freelance hit-man, bodyguard and
I-do-what-I-damn-well-please antihero, this time killing off the competition
for a business tycoon, who wants to start a karate school. But when his old
master discovers, that this new school is a front for the mafia, Tsurugi
goes against them and meets some old enemies along the way.
In many ways “Return of Street Fighter” is superior to “Street Fighter”. It
has more story (cough cough), it has more action and the fighting sequences
have more thought behind them. And they are damn impressive visually. One
sequence is a showdown between Tsurugi and two villains in the snow, one
using yari (spear), the other a kusari-gama (sickle and chain), another
sequence, where Tsurugi meets his old enemy, whom he believed leaving dead
in “Street Fighter”, is fought out in a rain and thunderstorm, and the final
mass fight is fought out in a darkened staircase, with only a flashlight and
a swinging lamp as light sources. All very inventive composed.
Sadly this should be the last good street fighter flick of the series,
officially that is. By now Toho was riding the wave to its fullest extend,
and continued exploiting it with "Sister Street Fighter", plus two sequels,
and "The Last Revenge of Street Fighter". The series
official had its last
entry with "Kozure satsujin ken" in 1975.
Theatrical Release: April 27, 1974
Reviews More Reviews DVD Reviews
DVD Comparison:
Brentwood (10 Faces of Sonny Chiba Box) - Region 0 - NTSC vs. Optimum (The Street Fighter Box Set) - Region 0 - PAL
Big thanks to Henrik Sylow for all the Screen Caps!
(Brentwood (10 Faces of Sonny Chiba Box) - Region 0 - NTSC - LEFT vs. Optimum (The Street Fighter Box Set) - Region 0 - PAL - RIGHT)
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| Distribution |
Brentwood Region 0 - NTSC |
Optimum Region 0 - PAL |
| Runtime | 1:23:26 | 1:19:15 (4% PAL speedup) |
| Video |
2.27:1 Original Aspect Ratio |
2.40:1 Original Aspect Ratio
16X9 enhanced |
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NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes. |
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Bitrate:
Brentwood (10 Faces of Sonny Chiba Box)
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Bitrate:
Optimum (The Street Fighter Box Set)
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| Audio | 2.0 Dolby Digital English (dub), 2.0 Dolby Digital Chinese (dub), |
2.0 Dolby Digital Mono Japanese |
| Subtitles | None | English, Dutch, None |
| Features |
Release Information: Studio: Brentwood Aspect Ratio:
Edition Details:
Chapters 14 |
Release Information: Studio: Optimum Aspect Ratio:
Edition Details:
DVD
Release Date: January 24, 2005 Chapters 16 |
| Comments |
Native resolution of the Brentwood
DVD is 720px, but as there are black bars left and right, the film frame
takes up approx 705px. Black bars were removed and frame resized to
700px. In order to compare, the Optimum frame of 1016px was resized to
700px. Both are DVD5 editions, but there is a world in difference. BRENTWOOD The Brentwood suffer from edge enhancements, heavy ghosting (even during normal movement), its very bright, lacks detail and is, in comparison to Optimum, over scanned by approx 10%. It is dubbed into English (and Chinese) and the dub is simply awful. All the characters have gotten English names, like Takuma (Chiba) now is Terry, and translation is very "liberal". It also has an English title sequence, but if its created by Jack Shoulder ("The Hidden"), as "Street Fighter" was, I don't know. OPTIMUM The Optimum is based on a digitally re-mastered source of the recently restored original version, showing next to none signs of artifacts. It is not as dark as "Street Fighter", has great details and contrast, and while it also has ghosting, it seems only to be during fast movement. It is just a great transfer. It comes with the original Japanese 2.0 Dolby Digital mono track, which also has been re-mastered. There is no noise and dialogue is clear. |
DVD Menus
(Brentwood (10 Faces of Sonny Chiba Box)
- Region 0 - NTSC - LEFT vs. Optimum (The Street Fighter Box Set) -
Region 0 - PAL - RIGHT)
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Screen Captures
Captures resized to 700px width from 1016px original (Optimum)
(Brentwood (10 Faces of Sonny Chiba Box) - Region 0 - NTSC - TOP vs. Optimum (The Street Fighter Box Set) - Region 0 - PAL - BOTTOM)
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(Brentwood (10 Faces of Sonny Chiba Box) - Region 0 - NTSC - TOP vs. Optimum (The Street Fighter Box Set) - Region 0 - PAL - BOTTOM)
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(Brentwood (10 Faces of Sonny Chiba Box) - Region 0 - NTSC - TOP vs. Optimum (The Street Fighter Box Set) - Region 0 - PAL - BOTTOM)
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(Brentwood (10 Faces of Sonny Chiba Box) - Region 0 - NTSC - TOP vs. Optimum (The Street Fighter Box Set) - Region 0 - PAL - BOTTOM)
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(Brentwood (10 Faces of Sonny Chiba Box) - Region 0 - NTSC - TOP vs. Optimum (The Street Fighter Box Set) - Region 0 - PAL - BOTTOM)
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(Brentwood (10 Faces of Sonny Chiba Box) - Region 0 - NTSC - TOP vs. Optimum (The Street Fighter Box Set) - Region 0 - PAL - BOTTOM)
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(Brentwood (10 Faces of Sonny
Chiba Box) - Region 0 - NTSC - TOP vs. Optimum (The
Street Fighter Box Set) - Region 0 - PAL - BOTTOM)
examples of
ghosting during fast movement
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Report Card:
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Image: |
Optimum |
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Sound: |
Optimum |
| Extras: | Optimum |
| Menu: | Optimum |
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NOTE: Purchases through DVDBeaver's links to Amazon help keep us afloat and advertisement free! |
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| Distribution |
Brentwood Region 0 - NTSC |
Optimum Region 0 - PAL |
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Gary Tooze
Mississauga, Ontario, CANADA |
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Many Thanks...
