Customer Reviews

Shogun Assassin: 5 Film Collector's Set

5 star:		(35)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

"Shogun Assassin" is a great film. Much "controversy" has arisen over the years regarding this film having been cobbled together from two other films in the Lone Wolf series. I think that what has been achieved is an extremely entertaining, fast-paced piece of action. By eliminating non-essential story lines and including a voice over narration, the action moves at break neck speed. The amount of blood spilled is so over the top as to be cartoonish, which only adds to the uniqueness of the movie. The DVD transfer is excellent and the restored picture is high quality. Some reviewers have complained about certain scenes being unrestored, it is actually only two shots totaling maybe five seconds in length. Both shots are of a castle and the excuse for not restoring them was that they were stock footage with no original element available. I do not know why the company had to place the disclaimer of this fact on the film, as I doubt anyone would have really noticed anyway. An added bonus on the DVD is the inclusion of the trailer which, I had never seen before. I can only imagine an audience seeing this trailer and somehow not wanting to see the film, it is awesome. Anyway, if you have never seen "Shogun Assassin" or have seen it a thousand times, buy this DVD, it is well worth it.

I am not usually a fan of dubbed versions of Japanese films. Most of the time, they are so poorly done I don't know why they even bother. But somehow, I find "Shogun Assassin" to be not only forgivable, but an awesome flick.

Maybe because this is more than just a dubbed version of the original film. The director, Robert Houston, spliced together the "good parts" of two films, Lone Wolf and Cub: Sword of Vengeance and Lone Wolf and Cub: Baby Cart at the River Styx into a single story. He then hired deaf lip-readers to help him create an English-language script that was synchronized to the mouth movements, and Mark Lindsay from the band Paul Revere & the Raiders to lay out a funky synthesizer track for a score. It reminds me a bit of the animated series Robotech or even Woody Allen's What's Up, Tiger Lily? which both created new stories out of Japanese material.

Or maybe it is because "Shogun Assassin" is just so cool. The story is a simplified version of the original Lone Wolf and Cub series. You still have the wandering swordsman with his killer baby, but this time they are only fleeing from "The Shogun" instead of any complex story of clan rivalry. They are pursued by endless squads of "ninjas" which are handily and bloodily dispatched in grand style. That's about it. This is definitely the "good parts" version, and the fun comes from the endless swordfights and syntho soundtrack.

The violence here is over the top. There is one scene where a female ninja proves her prowess by fighting a battle with the Shogun's top fighter, and she slowly slices him to pieces, first fingers, then ears, then feet. It is a visual demonstration of the famous "To the pain" scene from The Princess Bride. All of the scenes go like that. No sword is drawn but body parts go flying. Good times indeed.

The entire series has been released by Animeigo in the Shogun Assassin: 5 Film Collector's Set. Chances are if you see the first one, you are going to want to see them all.

Unlike what some of the other reviews have stated, this is not spliced together episodes from a Japanese tv show. Actually, it is spliced from the first two (there are six in the series) Lone Wolf and Cub movies: Sword of Vengeance and Baby Cart at the River Styx. It is also not a kung fu film because for one thing, kung fu is a martial art form from China and this movie is from Japan and is involving samurai (who don't practice kung fu).

Unfortunately, taking two movies and cutting them down to one movie half as long hurts the story of the films. In the original films, the Shogun didn't just up and decide that he was threatened by Ogami Itto and decide to kill his family. The story is more involved and the viewer has a much stronger emotional connection with the characters of the story when watching the original versions of the film in two separate parts.
Also, the Lone Wolf and Cub series has seen a recent release onto DVD by AnimEigo and the picture and sound quality on these new DVD transfers is astounding when compared to this film. It literally looks as if it is a recent release instead of a film from the 70s. Additionally, these DVD releases contain the original Japanese audio tracks (matched with the AnimEigo's superb subtitles) not a horrible English dubbing as contained in Shogun Assassin.

All this combined, it is impossible for me to recommend this film over the originals to anyone. Granted, they both still contain ridiculous blood spurting and great swordplay and you'll still have a good time watching either Shogun Assassin or the original Lone Wolf and Cub movies but Shogun Assassin is just inferior. However, if (and only if) you really hate subtitles in your movies, then Shogun Assassin might be the way to go.

The Lone Wolf and Cub films themselves are based off of a classic manga; partly released by the same name in the US by Action Comics. More recently, Dark Horse Comics released it in its entirety in a 28 vol. (8,000+ pages) series. The story is more fleshed out and much more involved in the manga and the artwork is incredible. Anyone who enjoys the Lone Wolf and Cub films would be doing themselves a favor by checking them out. It should be noted to anyone who has seen the movie series to its "conclusion", that the manga does has an appropriate ending unlike that of the film series and its conclusion is more than satisfying.

Yes, it's recut, rewritten, rescored, dubbed, and chopped down from two separate films. Yet even my Japanese friends agree: this version of "Lone Wolf and Cub" is better than the original Japanese films. Here's why:

1)That fantastic score by Marc Lindsay (of Paul Revere & the Raiders fame), which absolutely blows away the original.

2) The brilliantly-written and witty script ("Those swine will butcher anyone who walks in their way! It's just bad taste!"). The highlight is the narration of Daigoro, which is not found in the original.

3) A really first-rate dub. (Even Daigoro's pronunciation of "harakiri" is accurate.)

4) Wall to wall action! This is truly the "good parts" version of "Sword of Vengeance" and "Baby Cart on the River Styx."

5) Lone Wolf is actually a MUCH cooler customer in this version. The American editors have gone through and carefully removed all of actor Tomisaburo Wakayama's over-the-top emotional reactions, creating virtually a new performance in the editing room. This version of Lone Wolf is more self-possessed and calmly lethal than the original Japanese version.

That much said, there are two problems with Animeigo's presentation. The lesser is the idiotic unremovable "unrestored" notice plastered over the opening shot of Himeji Castle, which could have been handled much less intrusively by a title card before the start of the film.

Far worse, though, is the image quality. This version was constructed from Animeigo's transfers of the original films (also available on DVD), yet the picture quality is not nearly as sharp as the originals'. It actually appears to be a generation down in quality. After years of neglect and bootlegging, poor "Shogun Assassin" still can't get a break!

This review is for; Shogun Assassin: 5 Film Collector's Set

I just wanted to point out some of the new special features in this new set that wasn't available in the individual releases. Besides being released in the new box that takes ups less space than the original five snap cases, audio commentary is provided by Ric Meyers (a film scholar) and Steve Watson (a martial arts expert) as well as a video interview with Scott Houle who did the audio dubbing for parts 3, 4 & 5. Note the commentary and video interview is only on part one (Shogun's Assassin). The video interview is about 31 minutes long as Scott Houle answers a series of questions about the technical aspects of film dubbing. The other four discs in the set appear to be indentical to the individual releases the were released earlier. Also, a 26-page booklet featuring an essay, making of interview, liner notes, cast bios, black & white photos as well as "where are they now" information. Any special features from the previous released discs are still in the new boxed set such as all the trailers, photo slide shows & production notes. All of the discs are stored in a five-fold cardboard insert that slides into the outer box (similiar to typical TV series DVD sets).

Great boxed disc set to have if you want the new special features on disc one only and the booklet! Otherwise it is very identical to the prior individual releases.

Shogun Assassin is a movie spliced together from episodes of a Japanese television show from the seventies called Sword of Vengence (single episodes of which are now available on DVD) that have been dubbed with English and given a voice over narration by Ogami Itto's son. The television show is based on a comic book series from Japan called Lone Wolf and Cub(these are now available in the states from Dark Horse Comics). This is a squel to Lightning Swords of Death which has been assembled from the television show the same way. A lot of people say it was banned in the eighties. I don't know if that's true, but it has certainly been out of print for the better part of two decades, as can be seen by the price this thing goes for used.

The story is of a samurai, Ogami Itto, employed by an evil shogun to behead the enemies of the shogun. The shogun becomes worried that Ogami is going to kill him, so he sends assassins to kill Ogami. Makes sense so far. They succeed in only killing his wife. As anyone who has been watching movies for any time will know, if you kill a man's wife, he immediately becomes a psychotic killer out for your blood. The interesting twist here is that Ogami decides to take his two-year-old son on his path of vengence. Ogami's son rides around either in a backpack or in a baby cart equipped with all manner of hide out weapons which are all sharper than razors.

It should be said that, contrary to opinions of Quentin Tarrantino, this is no movie for children. There is some nudity and blood by the gallons. Apparently during the time period of shogunate Japan the circulatory system of the human body was under immense pressure. People get hit with swords and the blood sprays out like it's coming from a garden hose with your thumb over the end. The sword fight in Kill Bill with the Crazy 88 made me immediately think of this film, only toned down slightly. There are beheadings and limbs chopped off, one guy even gets turned into nothing more than a stump with a head (sans ears and a portion of his scalp). People get hit with all manner of edged and blunt instruments. In other words, if you want to see people sustaining traumatic injuries delivered by the weaponry of medieval Japan, this movie is for you - if you can find it.

"Choose the ball and you join your mother"....."I know you dont understand my words, but you must choose."....

Shogun Assassin is just the first part of the many films in the Lone Wolf series, and the best! The film was BANNED SINCE 1983 in the UK, and the most bloody of the series. There are 2 parts to Shogun Assassin, so if you just get the first one you will be left hanging.
Basiclly, HE WHIPS OUT HIS SWORD AND RELIEVES HIS VICTIMS OF THEIR HEADS AND LIMBS!! THE BLOOD GUSHES OUT ALL OVER THE SCREEN - AS IF BEING HOSED INTO THE CAMERA!

Yea, This film is Pretty violent, it reminds me of Kill Bill Vol 1. Shogun was some of QT's insperation to Kill Bill and he included some of it in Vol. 2. Shogun Assassin tells the story of Lone Wolf a powerful and feared "Masterless" samurai who lives a peaceful existence with his wife and his son. When he refuses to swear allegiance to Kurando the most vicious Shogun in Japanese history, Kurando orders the death of Lone Wolf's wife Azame. Lone Wolf vows to avenge her death, taking his son Tizuro with him on the path to darkness and retribution. Soon Lone Wolf's sword of vengeance is unleashed upon many victims,including the evil Shogun's son and the legendary "Masters of Death".

If you have ever heard the Wu Tang, GZA albulm "liquid swords" you would of heard many samples that came from this movie. This movie is pretty good, (considering its not kung fu.)Very entertaining, and the kid is pretty cute, watch for the part when he counts the victims, pretty funny...Tomisaburo Wakayama plays the Lone Wolf.

Shogun Assassin Blu-ray Review

Distributor: AnimEigo US

Never mind The Bride from Kill Bill, if you should find yourself embarking on a war against an army of crazed samurai killers, then Lone Wolf is the one warrior that you need on your side.

Originally taken from the Lone Wolf and Cub series, Shogun Assassin has built up a real cult following among various movie enthusiasts around the globe. From grind house theatres in the US, to one time video nasty status in the UK, the film has seen it's fair share of controversy over the years. At least two alternate edits of the film exist, including the original six part Lone Wolf / Baby Cart series and the Americanised movie version which splices together footage from two episodes and adds a brand new linking narration taken from the perspective of Lone Wolf's son Daigoro.

Previously released in the UK on video cassette and DVD, the film has always suffered from transfer problems including cropping and visible print damage. Released in 2006 in the US on DVD by the same distributor as this new Blu-ray release, the transfer was far superior to all other releases and was widely thought to be the best the film would ever look. Rather surprisingly then, this Blu-ray release has had even more time and attention spent on it, easily making it the ultimate release of the film to date.

Shogun Assassin in it's 30th Anniversary Collectors Edition, marks the début Blu-ray release for the AnimEigo studio and to get the ultimate print of the film, they took original masters from the two Lone Wolf Episodes and re-edited them together to exactly match the movie as previously released. This process enabled the distributor to release a pristine wide-screen 1080p print of the film which is huge improvement over all previous releases. Although the distributor had also performed the same trick with their US DVD release, this is the first time that they were able to produce an HD master and the difference is easily noticeable. The new HD transfer is excellent throughout with background elements showing far more detail than ever before. Skin tones and colours are also strong with black levels also being impressive. Never before has the extreme bloodshed looked so gloriously over the top, with reds gushing all over the screen in every angle conceivable.

As far as the audio is concerned, this movie was never going to present a sound effects fuelled extravaganza, however the dialogue is clean, crisp and free from distortion making Daigoro's narration seem all the more prominent and engrossing.

Extras here are also impressive. Exclusive to the Blu-ray release, there are a total of two audio commentaries. The first of which is with the films producer, the graphic designer and the voice actor for Daigoro himself. The second commentary track presents the thoughts of film scholar Ric Meyers and martial arts expert Steve Watson. Obviously there is a wealth of information available here, which should present even the greatest fans of the film with something new. Moving on from the commentaries, we are presented with a video interview with none other than Samuel L. Jackson who talks about his love for the film. Dating from his first initial viewing, to now modern day screenings, his genuine enthusiasm for movies of this kind is widely evident here.

All things considered, the Blu-ray release is definitely set to become the ultimate must own edition of the film. Whether or not the distributor will release the rest of the series on Blu-ray remains to be seen, however if their first step into the Blu market is anything to go by, they appear to be a company that puts a great deal of effort into their releases, so it will be interesting to see what follows. The only negative aspect concerning this Blu release is that it happens to be locked to Region A, further proof if ever needed, that multi-region Blu-ray is the only way to go.

In summing up, the ultimate tag line for the movie is best left to Daigoro's own narration.

"MY FATHER WASN'T SCARED OF THE SHOGUN...THE SHOGUN WAS SCARED OF HIM"


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I really think this movie is great! It's my favorite martial arts / action film (aside from Bruce Lee movies). And unfortunately it's not appropriate for children. If one is into these kinds of movies and don't mind gushing blood they HAVE to watch it. My dad collected martial art movies when I was a child (I'm 35 now) and I used to watch this movie over and over with my brothers. When the reference was made to Shogun Assassin in Kill Bill 2 I nearly choked on my popcorn in the movie theater. I heard only one other gasp from another patron from across the theatre, so I guess it's safe to say not many people have watched this film, and thought how unfortunate. I was lucky to catch the series playing on the international channel about a year ago. And since watching Kill Bill I've decided to purchase the DVD series.

First off, I love this film, its packed with non-stop action. And I don't mean the cheesy overdone Hollywood "explosion every two seconds" type action; rather the quirky, yet somehow epic 1970's-1980's era style of film.

What I love about it most is how it really feels like you are put in this guy's position. You worry about him and his son throughout the film. Lots of suspense prior to the fight scenes (which are about every 30 seconds to five minutes). You will be on the edge of your seat. And you actually see him spare a person (a woman). So you may begin to identify with the main character and his cute, innocent-looking little son.

Warning: If you don't love to see heads chopped off and are way too concerned with a storyline other than "revenge," then you probably won't like this film.