Lady Snowblood 2: Love Song of Vengeance

Well-made, but unpleasant sequel to one of the greatest cult Japanese films of the 70's, "Lady Snowblood II: Love Song of Vengeance." This installment focuses less on classic blood spray sword fight scenes and more on the corrupt politics of the time. Fascinating history lesson, but of course the more serious subject matter does mean less fun. The film itself looks beautiful, with extravagant sets and costumes, and an excellent music score, and Meiko Kaji gets to show a more human side of her persona here. One thing that must be mentioned is that the violence factor in this sequel is more extreme; although there is less of the theatrical arterial blood sprays here, we get instead some thoroughly unpleasant and grisly scenes of human torture, including stabbings, burnings, eye gougings, savage beatings, as well as one man being injected with plague, which causes his skin to break out in nasty sores. A few scenes are kind of sickening, and i wasn't really expecting such serious subject matter. The film does tend to drag a bit in the middle segment, but comes back strong for the final third, when Yuki gets her revenge on the corrupt officials who have looted and burned an entire village for their own financial gain. Peopled with some truly slimy villains, and a heroic finale, this is a worthy sequel to a classic.

The stunning Meiko Kaji reprises her role as Shurayuki-hime (roughly translated "Princess Snow-Hell"), the beautiful agent of death. This time she is not out for personal vengeance, but is caught up in the political intrigue of the Meiji era of 19th century Japan. Caught between revolutionaries and secret policemen, Yuki makes sure the bad guys meet a particularly nasty end. It's great to see a samurai film featuring a female in the lead role. It was co-written by Kazuo Koike of "Lone Wolf and Cub" fame and features a role by Juzo Itami who later went on to direct "Tampopo" and "A Taxing Woman" among other films. Director Toshiya Fujita has a wonderful sense of color and this movie is a vibrant and violent classic.

Version: Eastern Eye's R4 DVD release. Japanese / English subtitles.

I thought the ending of 'Lady Snowblood' was rather definite. It didn't exactly set itself up for a sequel, but, here we are. Sequel time - 'Lady Snowblood: Love Song of Vengeance'. I must admit, it is a cool title.

After avenging her mother in 'Lady Snowblood', Yuki (Meiko Kaji) is arrested by the new Japanese police. Sentenced to death, Yuki is granted a reprieve by Kikui (Shin Kishida), an agent of the secret police. Kikui will let Yuki live if she spies on Ransui Tokunaga (Juzo Itami), an active socialist. Yuki accepts Kikui's offer, but making that offer may not have been the smartest thing Kikui ever did...

The first thing you may notice about 'Lady Snowblood 2' is that there is a lack of vengeance. It seems to have been substituted for politics. Naturally, there is some vengeance, and the requisite amount of Yuki killing people, but 'Lady Snowblood 2' seems to grounded in the political and social climate of Japan in the early 1900s. I've studied a bit of Japanese history from this period at university, so the tie-in managed to maintain my interest. However, characters make references to the Hibiya Riots and the Russo-Japanese war, events that happened in 1905. This is supposedly set right after 'Lady Snowblood', which I believe was set in the 23rd Year of Meiji. By my reckoning, that would make 'Lady Snowblood' set around 1891. I think I've missed something, or gotten the Meiji years wrong. If someone doesn't correct me, I'm going to assume time-travel was involved. Time-travel? Cool!

Meiko Kaji turns into something of an acting robot in this outing. Yuki seems devoid of any emotion, and while that was a theme in the first, it was established that she was capable of human feeling. However, she still makes a good assassin. Although we have more politics and less action, the action we do get is still pretty good, if dated.

'Lady Snowblood 2' stands in the shadow of its prequel. The first movie outshines this movie in every way, but the second is still entertaining. Worth a look for fans of the first - 7/10

As a die hard fan of the original from the first time I saw it, it was only natural for me to hunt down this follow up. While the original had a more simplistic, vengeance orientated plot, this sequel unfortunately bites off a bit more than it can chew as it weaves Yuki in with the politics of early 20 Century Japan and the events of the Russo-Japanese war. Overall it feels like the film is just cashing in on the popularity of Kaji Meiko generated by the first film.

That said, it still manages to entertain from the very start, with a wonderful sequence of Yuki hacking her way through a load of bad guys. Meiko lost none of her charisma from the original, which is really essential here as the film itself starts to trip of it's own plot after a while. The fact that politics is the theme here rather than vengeance doesn't give her quite as much to work with, but her ability to convey almost all of her emotions through her eyes is still a joy to watch.

Ultimately it is worth watching if you liked the original and find Kaji Meiko's presence to be enough to hold your attention. If you value a gripping plot over tremendous acting you'd be better of skipping this. The fact that the first film had both these elements and the sequel only has one makes it an inferior but still highly entertaining follow up.

Lady Snowblood 2: Love Song of Vengeance was quite different from the first Lady Snowblood. That one concentrated on the story of her revenge for deeds against her mother 20 years in the past. This one uses the framework of the clash between the rising authoritarian nationalist movement under the first Meiji emperor and the rising class of urban poor led by intellectual nihilists. It's pretty funny seeing kids skipping down the city streets singing songs about Japan being victorious over Russia in the 1905 war. Our Lady is swept along by these events rather than controlling them. After being sentenced to death for her deeds in the first film, she is "rescued" on the way to the gallows by the emperor's secret police and recruited to infiltrate the nihilists who have documents that could bring down the government. Lady Snowblood switches sides and we progress through torture, bubonic plague as a weapon of mass destruction, and class warfare. The film is carried more by the characters around Snowblood than by her, especially the two anti-government brothers that Snowblood befriends, as well as the police chief, who can't get a break in this movie. He's the bad guy but reminds me of Inspector Clouseau, whether falling off his horse or getting his eye poked out. However, she does what she needs to do and provides the action we expect. Altogether, I enjoyed this one better than the first. 7 of 10.