Shogun Assassin (1980)

Perfectly adorable

Best movie ever!

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

The movie runs out of plot and jokes well before the end of a two-hour running time, long for a light comedy.

Shogun Assassin (1980) Directed by Robert Houston Written by: Robert Houston & David Weisman Review: Kozure Okami (Lone Wolf and Cub) is a well known Manga series that was first published in the 1970's that told the Story of a Shogunate Executioner who one day returns home to find his Wife and entire Household murdered by the Shadow Yagyu Clan. Ogami Itto; discovers that his Baby son Daigoro managed to survive. Framed by having a Funeral Tablet with the Shogun's Crest on it Ogami Itto; decides to have his Revenge on the Shadow Yagyu with his Son bu his side, Ogami Itto; and Daigoro becomes Demons walking the Crossroads to Hell, they become the Lone Wolf and Cub.During the 70's the Kozure Okami Manga series was Adapated into six popular Samuria movies that had a similar style to the Legendary Zatoichi series.Then in 1980 David Weisman who was a fan of the Kozure Okami movies obtained the rights to the films from the American Office of Toho Studios for $50,000. David Weisman and Robert Houston then took Lone Wolf and Cub: Sword of Vengeance and Lone Wolf and Cub: Babycart at the River Styx and spliced them together by using 12 minutes from the first film and the rest from the second film. One thing that Shogun Assassin does is dumb down the Story and Character Devoplment just to focus on the Violence which is a little bit disappointing.The Dubbing and Narration by Daigoro is Cheesy while the Music at times doesn't really fit with the Film and the Editing is slightly messy.Plot:Ogami Itto decides to rebel against the Shogun after they Murder his Wife, travelling through Japan with his Son the Lone Wolf and Cub wipe out anyone who tries to stop them. Lone Wolf and Cub are assigned to kill The Shogun's Masters of Death, three Brothers who kill anyone who stands in the Shogun's way.Ninja's hired by the Shogun try to Assassinate the Lone Wolf and Cub but are quickly sliced apart by his Blade but not without badly injuring him. Daigoro helps his Dad regain his Stenght meanwhile the Shogun devise a plan to stop the Lone Wolf and Cub by kidnapping Daigoro. The Ninja's successfully capture Daigoro, Ogami Itto finds his Son hanging above a well. Threatening to drop him Ogami Itto informs them that there both willing to Die, Daigoro is dropped into the well while Ogami Itto murders all the Oppnents except for the Female Ninja. Talking his Son out the well the Two continue with their Journey to stop The Shogun and eliminate the deadly Masters of Death. Overview:Shogun Assassin is okay but when compared to the Original six Kozure Okaimi movies it pales in comparison but overall if you enjoy Cheesy Dubbed Movies full of non stop Violence and very little plot then you'll enjoy Shogun Assassin however if you've seen the six Kozure Okami movies then there's no real reason to watch Shogun Assassin. 5/10

Recap: Lone Wolf is a samurai bound by honor to his master. But when said master, the shogun begins to fear him and tries to have him assassinated, those bonds are broken. What is worse, the assassins only manage to kill his wife, leaving Lone Wolf and his young son on a mission for vengeance.Comments: This has a very different style. It is very exaggerated in every way, and I would almost describe it as cartoonish (not surprising considering its source). Everything is either ascetically minimal or over the top exaggerated. Lone Wolf on one hand says almost nothing, but his swordplay is all over the top. Bodies, blood and gore literally flies in every direction. Effects and sound are equally exaggerated to emphasize the action. So it is clearly different from many other movies. If this is in part because its Japan, whose movies often exaggerate to emphasize, dialog for instance, I can't say.If you can accept the style, it is a entertaining action movie. And mark my word, it is pure action. There is very little dialog, and what is said is almost all a narration by Lone Wolf's son. This makes the movie rather one dimensional, but it is not a big problem as it don't seem to aspire to be more. It will never be confused with a masterpiece, but still a entertaining movie that has had a rather big impact.6/10

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.

While at university I was introduced to the original Kazuo Koike/Goseki Kojima 'Lone Wolf & Cub' graphic novels by a half-Japanese friend and instantly became a fan. After a time we tracked down the movie versions and I was pleasantly surprised at how faithful they were to the original material - indeed, in many sequences it was as though the movies had used the Kojima graphics as storyboards for the filmed versions. All was well and good until, just yesterday, I saw this.Shogun Assassin is, in essence, a badly stitched together hack-job of the first two films in the series - Sword of Vengeance and Baby Cart at the River Styx. Eschewing the need for a coherent plot or any sense of pacing, it is merely a crude assembly of all the action scenes of the original films, with all the characterisation and plot development removed to make way for a nonsensical series of fights. It is, quite possibly, the worst editing job I have ever seen and, now that a box-set of the original movies is widely available, there is absolutely no point in seeing it. If you are at all interested in the Lone Wolf & Cub saga then seek out the originals immediately, but don't waste your time on this.