AllMovie

The title sets the viewer up for a wild ride but Champion Of Death (known in Japan as Karate Bull Fighter) doesn't play out the way one might expect. The story was based on a comic book that loosely chronicled the life of real life martial arts instructor Masutatsu Oyama. As one might expect, the script derived from these tales is an episodic affair but the surprise is that it blends hyperbolic action and intense melodrama in a bizarre but fascinating style. Champion Of Death veers from pathos to exploitation to bizarre action so fast is likely to induce whiplash but the end result is never dull. Director Kazuhiko Yamaguchi and his cast wisely play the material straight, thus enhancing its surreal aspects, and the plentiful action is guaranteed to please the martial arts film audience (Chiba's bout with the bull is one of the strangest moments in martial arts film history). It's definitely too weird for the average viewer but Chiba fans and those who enjoy offbeat Japanese fare will find plenty of one-of-a-kind entertainment here.