The third installment of "Sister Street Fighter" is hardly surprising at first sight. Koryu (Etsuko Shihomi) comes to Yokohama to bring a young girl to her mother and soon gets to fight lots of gangsters. Of course they use the child as a hostage, or rather a bait to get hold of Koryu. Of course they believe Koryu defeated, but then she returns alive and kicking. And of course there is a mysterious stranger again... But after 50 minutes or so I realized this is not a bad sequel, it might even be the best one. Etsuko Shihomi, with the experience gained meanwhile, is a much more confident star of the show. "Return of the Sister Street Fighter" shows some of the best locations and even adds something new. The killer with the poor card trick is an obvious homage to Lee Van Cleef in Leone's westerns (the hanging scene on the hill continues that perfectly),while his boss reminds me of an eccentric Bond villain - even making the same mistakes, such as letting the hero escape when he easily could have killed him, or her in this case. I voted 8/6/8/7 for the 4 "Sister Street Fighter" movies.

RETURN OF THE SISTER STREET FIGHTER is the third and final part of the trilogy, although a fourth, unconnected film (SISTER STREET FIGHTER: FIFTH LEVEL FIST) was to follow. It's a lesser film than its predecessors but as a work of constant karate action it's a lot of fun, with plenty of interesting backdrops for the action and the usual assortment of gangster villains and martial arts experts. The main bad guy is wheelchair bound here and particularly amusing, while Yasuaki Kurata returns from the previous movie and is a welcome presence once again, although he plays a different character. The choreography is slightly sloppier here but the film does the job well enough and Etsuko Shihomi is always a delight.

So while the sister (street fighter) is still going strong (no pun intended),we give her a sidekick here (again with the puns),that is morally ambigious to say the least. The enemy of my enemy ... is my friend I guess? Who knows? The screenwriter I reckon should. But in a movie with beatings, nudity and general mayhem, is morality really that necessary? Of course it is, we want to root for good guys/gals.

But the viewers should able to forgive and forget. And the charismatic addition might just be able to pull that off. More insanity ensues, lots of murder and blood, a lot of crazy stuff happening and the sister in peril. She's quite gullible come to think of it (easy to trap her with a phone call that is). Ah well it is what it is