Baby Cart: L'enfant massacre

The first Lone Wolf film was enjoyable and innovative, but this first sequel unsuccessfully straddled the line between comically violent and serious in a way that the film couldn't maintain.

In this film, Itto continues his journey of vengeance with his young child along for the ride, rolling along in a cleverly weaponized wooden stroller. (Never before has a toddler been complicit in so many killings!) It's a fun movie for the mindless action, but it never really goes beyond that. At times the movie seems like it wants to be a more serious film, but then it veers back to a perpetually nonchalant Itto effortlessly slaying would-be killers along the road.

Overall, it felt like a movie attempting to bridge genres without ever cleanly landing in the one that fit.

It was this film that converted me to the joys of blood spattered gory Japanese epics. The action is amazing - each fight scene a gem. The main characters take everything so calmly that I began to see Blues Brothers-esque deadpan humour in some of the more gruesome sequences. Watch this film with your friends so you can all scream at the TV each time a fight kicks in. It worked for me.

Kozure Okami:Sanzu no Kawa no Ubaguruma/Lone Wolf & Cub:Baby Cart at the River Styx(1972) is made up of a few episodes from graphic novel series. One part of story is loosely based on an episode called EIGHT GATES OF DECEIT. The sub plot involving the masters of death is inspired by THE FLUTE OF THE FALLEN TIGER. The part where Daigoro is used as bait to lure out Ogami Itto is based on another episode known as EXECUTIONER'S HILL. The bits and pieces from the different stories are sown together to form an exciting samurai flick.

First few minutes produce a stunning sequence of action mis-en-scene. Baby Cart at the River Styx(1972) is the best of the six film series because of complex character development, interesting story, and outstanding action sequences. The Chimes heard by Ogami Itto and his son, Daigoro during early moments of film are a reminder for them of their painful past. Humorous moment occurs when an owner of a hotel inn takes in Itto and son(Lone Wolf gave him gold pieces to watch over) after thinking of not taking them in moments earlier. There is a brilliant 360 to 180 degree pan of the camera that features an effective tight close up to display expressions of intuition from faces of Ogami Itto and Daigoro.

Places a little more focus into the code and demeanor of Ogami Itto than Part One. Ogami Itto as the Lone Wolf lives by Meifumado as a way towards restoring his family name while at the same time take revenge on the Yagyu clan. Ogami Itto kills without emotion yet a shed of humanity is somewhere within his soul. He is an action character of three dimensional depth that is rare for an action picture. Ogami Itto intriques me as a character of graphic novels and for this instance film because of his strong paternal presence.

Introduces some tough female ninja assassins that Lone Wolf & Cub have to go up against. They seem to be untouchable after dispatching a volunteer of the Kurokuwa group until the female warriors face off with Ogami Itto. Ogami Itto is one tough and determined opponent as the female ninja assassins find out when the majority of this group but one is killed off. The face off between Ogami Itto and Sayaka, the leader of the female assassin group successfully played by Kayo Matsuo has a surreal feel to it. Ogami Itto walking through a path of bodies with a baby cart that has a vegetable stuck in the middle front is a nice comic touch.

The confrontation between Lone Wolf & Cub and the Shogunate's Kurokuwa Ninja group is a combo of artful violent imagery and brilliantly smooth editing. This moment flows smoothly in a way that is hypnotic to the eye and mesmerizing to the brain. Although the scene does have it share of graphic violence, there is never a crude feel in the action as at moments in Sword of Vengeance(1972). Fantastic use of cuts and dissolves to make this moment one of the best action scenes from the first two films. The cinematography used in the action moves with graceful steps.

Lone Wolf and Cub:Baby Cart at the River Styx(1972) really gets at the heart of the story with its complex father/son relationship. The father/son relationship of Itto and Daigoro is what has made the Lone Wolf & Cub stories for so many people. Ogami Itto and Daigoro are tied together by an unbreakable bond that is indescrible in words. The bodily expressions tell more about the relationship of Ogami Itto and Daigoro than any sentence could ever do. An example of this notion happens when the leader of the Kurokuwa Ninja threatens to kill Daigoro is Itto does not give up.

The graphic violence is much higher here than in Sword of Vengenace(1972). The violent battle scenes of BCATRS stir around with stylistic expression. Maybe not as artisticly refined as in samurai films by Akira Kurosawa, but the violent battle scenes at least never feel bland or boring. I can see where filmmakers like John Woo got their influences when I watch the battle scenes of LW&C:BCATRS(1972). The graphic violence in part two and the other films in the series must have played an important influence on the bloody violence in Lucio Fulci's gothic chillers.

Ogami Itto and Daigoro follow a path of blood and corpses that is steeped in tragedy. In living by Meifumado, they are as one who hold a future that is bleak and hopeless. Only when they completely destroy the Yagyu Clan can the Lone Wolf and Cub return to a path of a hopeful future. For Daigoro, dying in the well would have been more merciful than living to an unknown future. Daigoro represents the good, kind side of Ogami Itto whom without would just be cold blooded and ruthless. The tragic path of the two is an element that is fascinating.

The most formidable opponets of Ogami Itto are the Bentenri brothers from part two. The duel between the brothers and the God of Death in the sandy desert is Leonesque. The head splitting moment is the creme de la creme of the duel. Tomisaburo Wakayama for this moment reaches the larger than life heights of Toshiro Mifune. Breathtaking samurai duel with excellent scenery that would have made Sergio Leone proud.

The actors who play the Masters of Death give their characters an unique quirk to make the Bentenrai brothers fascinating villains. One of the actresses(Michie Azuma) who plays a female ninja assassin would have a more substanical role as topless female assassin in Lone Wolf & Cub:Baby Cart in Peril(1972). Part One and Part two of LW&C use identical imagery. Better directed than the first film with fewer slow moments. Lone Wolf & Cub:Baby Cart at the River Styx(1972) stays true emotionally to the graphic novel that the film is based on.

Another winner in the BABY CART series (but honestly, I can't find too much fault in any of the films in this set of "classic" films...) and personally my favorite single entry...

This one has the Lone Wolf and his Cub still enjoying the "misadventures" of samurai-for-hire, and of course their quest for vengeance against the Yagyu clan that initially betrayed them. Some intriguing enemies in this one includes a band of female ninjas and the "Gods Of Death". There is also the requisite side story of Itto's "hit of the day"...

This one has some pretty fast-and-furious fight scenes and is probably the most action packed of the series. Again, like the other entries, good acting, great sets and costumes, beautiful camera-work, and the almost magical but extremely unorthodox "chemistry" between father and son are not to be missed. Highly Recommended 9/10

Disgraced former executioner Ogami Ittō continues his brooding storm through the Japanese countryside, his three-year-old son Daigoro along for the ride in a booby-trapped carriage. Now some distance into their march to vengeance, the pair have drawn so much notoriety that they risk ambush and assassination at every turn. It's not paranoia, either: Ogami dispenses with blade-wielding enemies at nearly every chapter break, downing at least two-dozen men and women before the film is through. The opportunity isn't abused. In true poppy '70s samurai fashion, each challenger (or cluster of challengers) wears a distinct identity and a unique fighting style, like a colorful garden of deadly blossoms. They all bleed day-glo red, though, often in a towering arc of spray that paints landscape and fallen comrade alike. In Baby Cart at the River Styx, for the first time, we see vulnerability from the master swordsman and a little headstrong personality from his young child. We also see uncertainty from a prominent rival, another first, and restraint in the midst of a bloodlust. Some of the fighting is a little awkward, and the formula is threatening to wear thin, but overall this represents a wonderfully stylish, entertaining continuation of the journey that was so well-established in the first film. An excellent genre-definer.