New Battles Without Honor and Humanity: Last Days of the Boss (1976)

BWH&H 8: A Disappointing End

I don't know where to begin with this one. It might just be the culmination of this trilogy altogether that soured my views towards it, as it really just feels too similar to the previous two New Battles movies. But I do have to admit, there were some very odd choices with regards to story direction with this one that I can't shake days after watching. The whole weird brother/sister thing that wasn't necessary, for instance (if you know, you know). On the whole, this just seemed like it existed for the sake of it being a trilogy.

We're once again given a completely new cast of characters with many of the returning actors, and again I'm left scratching my head as to why. It almost feels as though this is a remake of the Boss' Head, as it covers most of the same beats. I also found it more difficult to follow who was who, and it just felt kind of exhausting to figure out. None of the characters stick out, and we're meant to loathe them all equally.

This weird trilogy goes out with a whimper, even though we're treated to an ending unlike we've seen before, the open-endedness of it feels like a copout. If you're going to watch all 8 films, I would say watch the first 5 back-to-back, and then space this trilogy out a bit.

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