Shogun Assassin

I loved this movie but I couldn't even begin to explain why. On paper it is terrible. The movie is made with bits of footage from other movies. It's dubbed. The story line is basic and irrelevant to why I like the movie. Not a great start and yet, once I started watching it, I couldn't stop.

I used to listen to Wu Tang CDs when I was a kid and the Genius GZA album Liquid swords borrows a bunch of lines from this movie. I always thought they were cool but I didn't know they came from this movie.

The part that is hard to explain, is that my wife, who doesn't like martial arts flicks or gore, also liked this movie.

This isn't the kind of movie that you see by accident on TV. You'll probably have to buy it on DVD to see it. I waited for it to be on Netflix but eventually gave up and ordered a copy for $10.

I'm glad I did. This movie inspired other movie makers and despite its age, it is very cool from start to finish. I promise you won't get bored. People talk about how the footage from taken from other movies but it is the new sound track that is added that makes it special and deserving of being judged as a movie in its own right.

It ends very suddenly and I wasn't 100% satisfied with where they left it but in general, its and entertaining experience that I wouldn't hesitate to recommend to movie fans. In a world where it is hard to find something different, sometimes you have to look to the past to find something new.

For a film edited from highlights of two films in a series of six, SHOGUN ASSASSIN is far, FAR better than it has any right to be. That said, track down the originals since they are all available on video in widescreen, subtitled editions. The cinematography will make you drool, and the swordfighting is probably the most impressive samurai-type swordwork ever put on film. Another plus is Lone Wolf, played by Tomisaburo Wakayama. Casting him for a handsome comic book hero is not what would come to mind immediately, but it is his middle-aged dumpiness that makes him utterly believeable during his fight scenes. Swordfight fans, you will reach Nirvana during this orgy of carnage! For a more impressive display of Wakayama's skills, check out LIGHTNING SWORDS OF DEATH (frequently found in rental shops as LUPINE WOLF), the third film in the Lone Wolf series which was actually released in the states six years before SHOGUN ASSASSIN during the kung fu movie craze. In LIGHTNING SWORDS, the film remains totally unedited from the original and features a showdown between Lone Wolf and army that is equipped with not just swords, but arrows and rifles as well!!!

This film is not for the faint of heart. It's also not extremely realistic, what with blood spurting in all directions at almost every turn. However, it's not intended to be realistic. It's a fantasy ride. It's intended to be entertaining to those who enjoy film making of this genre, and to serve as a vehicle for a hero. And Lone Wolf is a hero of grand stature with a talent for defending himself and his own. And throughout the film, as he's pursued by hired assassins he defends himself and his child with style and brutal grace. Throughout the film, the glorious examples of extreme bloodshed are observed by his young son who accompanies his father... the son narrates the film in a manner that's almost mesmerizing in its effectiveness as events unfold.

This film has some of the most stylish and expressive swordsmanship you're ever likely to see. And throughout the bloody brutality and edged weaponry action there are some examples of the kindest and most humane exchanges you could ever imagine, particularly between father and son... some profound, some humorous, some just simply ordinary.

This film is hard to find and it's almost never seen on pay cable anymore, although Cinemax used to run it on occasion some years ago. However, it's still around in some video rental stores and on some of the auction sites now and then, so if you spot this film somewhere grab it. It's an amazing way to spend an evening, watching Lone Wolf and child take on the world. I looked a long time before I found my copy in an older video rental store that was going out of business and was selling off tapes. I bought it for four dollars... I'd have paid MUCH more for this obscure little gem of a film that was actually edited together from episodes of a Japanese TV series that aired in the early 1970s.

Watch this film with an open mind and with acceptance. It's a journey into furious bloodletting, subtle glory, and profound dignity.

I think this film is almost as famous for its tour de force editing,taking a min-series and making it into a coherent masterpiece of 86 min as it is for its action sequences.

The basic story is about a Lone Wolf. A very proud samurai who worked as the official decapitator for the shogun.The paranoid shogun sends out his ninja to kill lone wolf, but get his wife instead.At this point there is the classic "choose the(toy) ball and join your mother, choose the sword and join me" the son joins him and we hear the story from his eyes from this point.It is pure carnage from here on in, as the evil shogun sets his ninja out on Lone Wolf along with the brutal Masters of death.

There is a lot of carnage and blood in this movie...I MEAN a lot. But the father son relationship is touching and strongly developed.

This movie is a classic that is only just starting to show its age, my 8 might be a bit low of a vote really.

If you like fast sword play and quick deaths watch this movie.

I imagine that many Japanese cinema purists look down on Shogun Assassin, viewing it as bastardised art, the film consisting of the juiciest bits from the first two classic Lone Wolf and Cub films edited together and re-dubbed for the US market. I, however, see the film as a fond reminder of the video nasty era when, against the wishes of the BBFC, I proudly owned an ex-rental, big box VIPCO VHS copy of the movie; it was one of the highlights of my collection, a gloriously violent saga that introduced me to the world of unflappable samurais and arterial spray, for which I will be ever grateful.

Of course these days the censors have seen sense and all of the Lone Wolf and Cub movies are available in their entirety on DVD (pristine prints in their original language with English subtitles, no less); but while it's great to see the movies as the filmmakers intended, I still get a kick out of Shogun Assassin's incongruous American voice-over, grimy 80s synth score and erratic editing, elements that take me back to a time when collecting banned movies was a challenge and the viewing seemed more rewarding as a result. As soon as Daigoro's narration kicks in, I'm back in the darkened bedroom of my youth, revelling in all the stylish blood and violence wreaked by super cool rōnin for hire Ogami Itto (Tomisaburô Wakayama), enjoying the fact that I'm sampling forbidden fruit, and it tastes good.