Film Name: 力王 / Story of Ricky
Li Wang was born with immense strength and invulnerability to blades and bullets. Yet beyond his physical prowess, he possessed no means of earning a living. To support his girlfriend Yingying, he took on gruelling labour at a construction site. Even when wronged, he refrained from retaliation. For he knew that wielding such power meant he must never strike lightly, lest ordinary folk be utterly defenceless and meet their end.
On her way home from school, Yingying accidentally stumbled upon a drug deal. Kidnapped by the triads, she leapt to her death to escape the gang leader’s assault. Enraged, Li Wang avenged his girlfriend by killing her captors, only to be imprisoned for murder.
In the year 2001, Hong Kong was undergoing the privatisation of all political institutions by capitalist entities. Prisons, treated like car parks, were contracted out to large corporations for profit. Prison bureaucracy ran rampant, with guards routinely beating and verbally abusing inmates, treating them as less than human. They even exploited the prisoners as free labour, brazenly cultivating cannabis within the prison walls.
Unable to tolerate the officers’ torment of inmates, Li Wang intervened. He stood up for the oppressed. Yet, as the saying goes, “a tree that stands tall attracts the wind”. Li Wang’s exceptional skills set off alarm bells throughout the prison. The four elite guards, known as the Four Directions, were ruthless and joined forces to eliminate him. After enduring relentless pressure, Li Wang finally resolved to fight back. A storm of blood and carnage engulfed this prison, long oppressed by criminal forces…
Adapted from a comic book, ‘Story of Ricky’ features a plot that is indeed rather exaggerated. It’s hard to imagine this film hailing from Hong Kong. In the movie, severed tendons are pulled out like rubber bands, tied into knots, and restored to normal, allowing the fight to continue. Quite the spectacle. Setting aside the sheer gore, the narrative itself carries a certain comedic quality. Then there’s the much-maligned special effects. Numerous reviews criticise the artificiality of the stunts, the plasticity of the models, and the excessive bloodiness that detracts from realism. Frankly, I find such critiques overly serious. Adaptations of comics inherently lean towards the bizarre; one simply has to laugh it off.
Personally, I rather enjoyed this film precisely because it resembles an animated feature. Fan Siu-wong’s portrayal of the King of Strength is both straightforward and honest, radiating integrity, with his muscular physique showcased to perfection. The film’s gore is truly consistent throughout. While not exactly terrifying, it is certainly bloody. Eyeballs and limbs fly everywhere, and flesh is torn open at every turn. It’s packed with gimmicks and well worth a watch.
Please specify：Anime Phone Cases » Story of Ricky 1992 Film Review: The sinews of the hand turn into rubber bands.