Review: This follow up to KARATE BULL FIGHTER is the second chapter in Toei’s attempt at making a classic trilogy about Masutatsu Oyama, founder of the Kyokushin Karate. In this second volume, produced only four months after the first chapter, the story evolves around Oyama involving himself with a group of Yakuza and the unexpected meeting of an old friend. Unfortunately for him, his old enemies are still looking for the right moment to have their revenge.

Not being an historian expert about Masutatsu Oyama, I can’t really point out what’s true or not, and as in the first volume, Oyama seems to have had a very exiting and adventurous life. The highlights for both films are, of course, a fight against a wild animal, this time with a bear! There are a lot of sources reporting an actual confrontation between Oyama and a bull. In fact, more than fifty bulls lost against Oyama, in which three of them had died during the encounter. However, the fight against the bear seems to have come from the imagination of the producers as no evidence seems to back up that even. Nonetheless, this particular moment is probably the only reason why this movie is still getting attention today.

Being a Sonny Chiba vehicle, KARATE BEAR FIGHTER is unfortunately not a movie in the standard we would like it to be. This whole trilogy seems to be a simple financially driven project that was rushed, considering the poor scripts used for the whole trilogy. We are far from the epic style of Hiroshi's Samurai trilogy here. The story kept a decent flow of entertainment and the fights were fairly done, but not very impressive. It is a nice follow up to the first volume, but not as well made.

At least Chiba did his best at portraying Oyama. He does it not only by being the great actor he is, but also by showing off his kicking ability, which unfortunately suffers from badly edited fight sequences. Too many cuts and quick edits make it less than impressive. As for the encounter with the beast which in some frames can be clearly identified as a man in a cheap bear suit, is really a fun aspect of the film.

KARATE BEAR FIGHTER is a decent martial arts film, but the rushed production can be clearly felt during the viewing. A much appealing script and a better-developed story would have made the film more appealing. It’s still a good take for Chiba fans and also for those who really enjoyed the South-Korean production FIGHTER IN THE WIND, which also depicts an early story of Oyama.