Shogun Assassin (1980)

SERIOUSLY. This is what the crap Hollywood still puts out?

Great movie! If you want to be entertained and have a few good laughs, see this movie. The music is also very good,

The movie is wildly uneven but lively and timely - in its own surreal way

It is interesting even when nothing much happens, which is for most of its 3-hour running time. Read full review

Spliced together from a couple of early '70s movies in the manga-inspired LONE WOLF & CUB series, SHOGUN ASSASSIN enjoys a bit of a cult reputation in the UK after it made its way onto the banned list when it first came out. It's a reputation that precedes it, with tales of spraying arterial blood and gore all over the place, and despite the hype the movie does live up to expectations. Despite the dodgy idea of editing movies together, it actually works in this instance, thanks to the simple narrative which essentially sees a lone samurai warrior pushing his kid along in a cart and tackling a series of assassins and ninjas along the way. It's as easy as that.The film has a very distinctive feel to it and anyone who's at all familiar with early '70s Japanese cinema will recognise the kind of cinematography and acting you see. It's all very cold, with minimal dialogue and stern expressions, and there are some quite beautiful moments in places thanks to the camera-work. The idea of having the boy narrate the tale is a clever one and the father-son relationship makes things more than watchable. Of course, we're all here for the action, and it doesn't disappoint as there are tons of inventive battles and skirmishes, each different from the last. Our hero, Lone Wolf, must battle all kinds of people, from gangs of ninjas to female assassins, lords and heroes and finally a trio of masters with some truly nasty weaponry in store.It's pretty sadistic, and expect severed limbs and plenty of blood geysers all over the place. Tarantino sure as heck got a lot of inspiration from this film when he went on to make his KILL BILL flicks. I really enjoyed SHOGUN ASSASSIN, which didn't flag for a moment; it's sometimes weird, sometimes different, always watchable, with an unconventional pair of heroes, humour in places, and a ton of well-staged action to recommend it. It's certainly left me with a longing to watch the original six-film series and see the full story...

When the wife of the Shogun's Decapitator is murdered and he is ordered to commit suicide by the paranoid Shogun, he and his four-year-old son escape and become assassins for hire, embarking on a journey of blood and violent death."Shogun Assassin" was edited and compiled from the first two films in the Lone Wolf and Cub series, using 12 minutes of the first film, "Lone Wolf and Cub: Sword of Vengeance", and most of "Lone Wolf and Cub: Baby Cart at the River Styx". Both were originally released in 1972.The project was directed by Robert Houston and his partner David Weisman, a protégé of Andy Warhol and director of Ciao! Manhattan (1972). A fan of the original Kozure Ōkami films, Weisman had obtained the rights for $50,000 from the American office of Toho Studios. The film was distributed by Roger Corman's New World Pictures to the grindhouse movie circuit in the United States.Reviews at the time of American release (1980) were not all positive, with Vincent Canby commenting on the mix and match of editing and how this is something like "What's Up, Tigerlily?" I would disagree with that, but I see where he is coming from. Canby also remarks that the samurai is "tubby", which is true, but I think that is part of his charm.For me, this is a fun film ,and perfect for distribution by Corman. It may have been better as the original two films (I have no idea), but like this it makes a quick action thriller that drive-in fans will love. And it still maintains some of the great visuals, especially a desert scene that is quite clever.

I generally hate dubbed movies, and I make no exception for this one. It would have been rated higher had it been subtitled. I hate losing the beauty of the language while watching a film.For those who want to see a Samurai film that shows the craft as well as the beauty, you could hardly go wrong with this film. Actually two different films joined together to make one, it gives a taste of the Lone Wolf and Cub series.Tomisaburo Wakayama was magnificent as the Samurai that traveled the roads with his son hiring himself out. You could bring anything to bear and he would dispatch them with ease. No matter how many came to kill him, he always walked away with his son. The Masters of Death were no match.There is blood, lots of blood. Limbs falling to the ground and blood spurting like from a lawn sprinkler. Death in a Samurai film is not pretty.

Shogun Assassin isn't technically any great genre picture, but I remember enjoying it with friends one night when there was nothing else to watch. It's one of those movies for the casual fan of the samurai sect of Asian action pictures (if there can be such thing as 'casual'), but maybe it might have more appeal to the real cult-followers of the ultra-violent films of old-school samurai mania. I actually got it almost on a fluke; it was featured in what now seems like a very clever goof by Tarantino from Kill Bill 2 (the little girl asks if she can stay up to watch this movie with her mother, hardy-har). I won't describe the plot as it would be the ultimate moot point- just know that a samurai is betrayed by his former master when the Shogun kills the samurai's wife, leaving him widowed with an only child, then he goes around the rest of the movie slaying anyone in his path while the child narrates with a dead-pan mix of sorrow and naive pride (albeit with that 'touching' opening speech by the kid). Basically, if you're ever looking for a good excuse to watch senseless blood-shed (and likely on a crappy DVD if you didn't look well enough and got it on said whim, all in line to get an "unrated" version) it's here, as the story wasn't even worked on to that much effect anyway.One could look at this like one of those monster movies from the 60s that got chucked together to make something remotely marketable (Godzilla's Revenge comes to mind); a little label should come on the DVD that says 'common sense need not apply here'. But it is a lot of fun on a senseless level nonetheless, as the "lone wolf" goes about chopping off heads, disemboweling by the dozens, always with the major spray effect and shot like it all needs to get shown in the most bing-bang-zoom quality possible. Unfortunately, unlike for example Riki-Oh, there aren't as many high-quality gags and just overall zaniness to go along with the verve of the ultra-violent B movie, it actually does in its own disturbing way take itself seriously. And it goes without saying that it's almost pornographic in its stylized blood-shed. Yet, against what should be my better judgment, that's what I did end up liking about it, how it went for broke all the way till the final showdown with the shogun. I wouldn't ever rank it with the great B-movies, and it sure will never have the substance of the more classy Samurai films of the 50s and 60s at Toho, but if I ever went on a dare with friends to watch it (or just too drunk to care), it'd be this one I'd pop on.