Muscle Heat (2002)

Wonderful character development!

As somebody who had not heard any of this before, it became a curious phenomenon to sit and watch a film and slowly have the realities begin to click into place.

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

The movie really just wants to entertain people.

Take care not to be misguided by the other comments on this movie! The action in this movie does not amount to "good" and it hardly even qualifies as mediocre. With a bad plot and too much bad storytelling instead of action, there is very little to entertain an experienced and/or demanding observer.Kane Kosugi is good in his movie-display of martial arts, but worthwhile action is presented only in 2 and a half minutes of the entire movie.The other fights have choreography, the quality of a bad Van Damme movie. ("I will block your kicks with my face until your feet start bleeding!") The showdown disappoints the most. It made me wonder if the action choreographer had left the crew, by that time. Cut-scenes, in no particular order, and devoid of any tension, are supposed to excite the audience. You may be familiar with that if you have seen the showdown of "Naked Weapon".

Even the final credits of the movie are good,just because of that great song ("Ready or not?We're gonna be on top!").From the start to the last scene is cool (slow in some parts,but yet,good). Now,for the actors,I found Kane Kosagi very weird.To tell the truth,I don't if It's his acting or just the character,but It can be the first one. That actress who played Akane Katsuragi,Jesus Christ,WHAT A F****** UGLY GIRL,GUYS!Her acting is decent,but even the make-up failed in make her face a bit cute,at least!I really don't understand Asian standards of beauty.Looks like every Asian crap can show its face on media!!! That girl who was always following the baddies around is very beautiful,but got one or two lines. And Masaya Kato...!Oh,my god,this man drives me crazy!!!He is so handsome and talented!People say "OH,Kane Kosugi is back,he is the son of that guy who..." but I say "So good too see Masaya again!".He is thinner than usual in this one,but I believe that this was the only way to keep Kane Kosugi from being overshadowed by him!No matter what you say,that is what I think! Sho Aikawa is ridiculous.The infamous exaggerated Japanese acting;However the guy who played the leader of the "rats" was very cool.

Although the title sounds like it came from an '80s dance movie or a low-budget porn, "Muscle Heat" is actually a fairly decent action movie. Starring Kane Kosugi as Joe (son of Sho Kosugi), it takes place in Tokyo in 2009, although isn't really far out enough to be considered sci-fi. Joe is a US marine who is courtmartialed for refusing to follow orders (revolving around shooting kids), and he is set free by Aikawa Show, who plays Japanese detective Aguri Katsuragi, and given "amnesty" (for reasons that are unclear) to go to Japan (which is in a severe depression and has pretty much gone to hell) to work with Aguri in stopping the illegal drug trade in "blood heat", a powerful and addictive drug, and stopping the lead dealer, Rai (played by Masayo Kato, from Beat Takeshi's "Brother", and Takashi Miike's "Araburu Tamashitachi"). Even though Kane's acting ability consists of a permanent scowl, the actions scenes are good, solid martial arts fighting, and good gunfight action, reminiscent of "Returner". The Sledgehammer fight scene at the end is something new, and worth a look. Not much in the way of complicated plot, but Aikawa Show is always worth a look when he is shooting people, and even though Kane Kosugi isn't much of an actor, he knows how to throw an impressive kick. And keep an eye out for Takenaka Naoto, who plays a greasy street bookie - I swear that guy is in every Japanese movie ever made...

MUSCLE HEAT was dead on arrival. The film offers up one of those cheap tournament fighting storylines popular in the late '80s and '90s, but really does nothing for the moviegoing public nowadays. The film's biggest draw is its star, Kane Shosugi, who is quite a good martial artist. His action scenes outside the ring are impressive, but once he enters the tournament, all the fighting becomes tedious and repetitive. More action sequences in the real world would have been a better way to go.As it stands, MUSCLE HEAT isn't a complete failure. I'd like to see more from Shosugi, preferably in a better environment, with a better story. Action films are fine, but there's something to be said for falling back on tiresome genres like the whole tournament thing.5 out of 10(go to www.nixflix.com for a more detailed review of this movie and reviews of other foreign films)