Kage gari

Much like its Italian brother genre, the spaghetti western, Japanese chambara of the early 70's, after the golden age of samurai cinema in the 60's, was in desperate need for a breath of fresh air, for new ways to satisfy an audience tired of the same old offerings. SHADOW HUNTERS belongs to that particular niche that saw more titillating and bloodier pulpy b-movies bordering heavily on exploitation and infused with purely comic book sensibilities. Of course all these were already staples of the genre in the 60's and Shadow Hunters, without any lofty ambitions it must be said, follows the path of Nemuri Kyoshiro and other popular low-brow chambara characters, with the violence and blood amplified and some female nudity thrown in for good measure.

The plot and dialogues never rise above comic-book pulp, as three dishonoured ronin called the Shadow Hunters come to the aid of an impoverished clan fighting to secure its future against the greedy paws of an ailing Tokugawa Shogunate. Escorting an envoy of the clan en route to Edo, the three ronins hack and slice their way through Shogunate agents, ninjas and spies, leaving behind them a trail of blood and chopped limbs and pausing enough to reminisce in flashback of how the Shogunate wronged them. Nothing we haven't seen in other, better movies but still boasting a capable body count and more than enough swordplay action to please the hardened chambara aficionado.

What really detracts from it however is first the awful score, the kind of groovy jazz music one would usually encounter in pinku and yakuza films of the time and completely out of place in the context of rural 18th century Japan, and then Toshio Masuda's workmanlike-to-poor direction. Jubei's flashback of being made to act as the second (executioner) to the lord of his own clan, no more than a child, ends literally in a whirl of embarrassment. If you can ignore the above and done made your way through superior chambaras of the early 70's like the mighty LONE WOLF AND CUB series, this is good for 90 minutes of brainless fun.

Three Shinobi (ninja) Hunters are hired to stop a group of.. Ninja, from destroying a small Fief out of the waning Government's greed.

Plot is secondary to the sparse gratuitous-nudity and plenty of bloodshed (one is more appreciated than the other)!

But it serves its purpose in specifying the era and the objective of those in play. As a stepping point, it is quite interesting (specially for those of us interested in Daimyo and the like). It also feels quite focused and smart from what you'd expect.. if not a bit barren. The type of movie you watch to pass the time more than anything.

Still, the strongest part of the movie is certainly the Lead Trio, as they show strong and believable camaraderie, well-written characters, decent enough backgrounds, interesting personalities and even "weaknesses". Secondary is the plentiful action that is never over the top. Sound effects are cheese but fit well (the musical score is almost-horrid), excellent lighting, good locations and overall acting. One thing I respect and love about this film, it's how they use the camera and cinematography angles to hide Shinobi for surprise attacks and to show their agility!

Finally, I quite liked the unexpected final resolution! As in, it was a tad unpredictable as well as abrupt! Not to say that it feels incomplete.. but I'll definitely be watching the sequel next, to hopefully get more closure.

"Make women happy by letting them play with your swords" is an idea uttered in the film. Make of that what you will.

Easy recommendation.

You have very likely heard of the terms used to describe a certain genre of film types such as, 'Swords & Sandals', 'Sword & Sorcery' and the 'Spaghetti Western'! Well this type of film could be described in 2 ways i.e. 'Samurai's & Saki' or 'Banzai Blood & Boobs'. It lets you know that they are B-Movies, or worse, and not to get your hopes up. Yes I know that every now and then a spectacular surprise will be released and go on to be a hugely popular cult classic; good examples would be the Clint Eastwood Italian Spaghetti Westerns and the 30 plus Japanese films of Zatoichi the blind swordsman. I won't get to giving a detailed review of this film because the reviewer, Chaos-Rampant, has perfectly described the amount of brainpower need to watch this kind of film in their spot on descriptive review (read it and see for yourself).

SHADOW HUNTERS or Kage gari, to give it its proper Japanese title, is a typical period style Japanese film...just not one of the good ones. For me its main let down was its choice of music which was a 1960's-1970's score which was entirely out of place with the time period of the action; the late Tokugawa Shogunate period of 1860-1867. It can best be described, by myself, as watching a film about the dying years of the Neanderthal species with a Bass & Drum score! It may have been the makers idea that it would possibly give the film more funkiness, and therefore attract bigger audiences. If so it would have been a total failure because the Japanese way of being and thinking (especially in the 1970's) was still set in its old ways; even though at the end of WW2 they began the slow process of joining the modern world. Even today in the 21st century they have become more modern and far more advanced than many, many countries but they still cannot seem to shake their old Shogunate & Samurai (or master and Peasant slaves as I call it) attitude to life!

I gave it a 1 star for the beautiful twilight sunset image in the last few frames.

I shan't be watching the sequels as there was nothing remotely of any stimulating interest to make it worth my while. You people however will have to make your own decisions :)