Review of Shogun Assassin (1980) by John S — 12 Jul 2012
This is the daddy of all samurai films. OK - so it's a rehash of two separate films, with bits of each stuck together with a new narrative but who cares when the result is a film that cuts out pretty much all the character and art of the originals and just leaves you with one high octane kung-fu showdown after another?
Banned for a period in the UK (though never an official video nasty I'm including it in my trawl through the whole genre) this is a non-stop orgy of swordplay that doesn't stint on the geysers of blood as the Lone Wolf offs his would be killers one by one in ever more inventive ways.
The plot, in case you need to bother with it, revolves around a samurai cast out by a corrupt shogun who is forced to wander feudal Japan with his young son and spend his time avoiding the unending flow of ninjas sent to kill him.
Although it lacks the wire work that permeates the modern entries into the genre there's no shortage of highly choreographed and stylised swordplay to keep the martial arts fan happy and there's plenty of the red stuff flying about to keep the casual gore hound satisfied too. Yes - of course it's completely ludicrous (the pair use a tooled up baby carriage as a weapon on numerous occasions) but that's not the point. This is traditional Japanese drama at it's best... well, at it's 70s best at least.
If you want to impress your cool mates after closing time then this is the film to sit them in front of!
This review of Shogun Assassin (1980) was written by John S on 12 Jul 2012.
Shogun Assassin has generally received very positive reviews.
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