Load of rubbish!!

Intense, gripping, stylish and poignant

What a freaking movie. So many twists and turns. Absolutely intense from start to finish.

a film so unique, intoxicating and bizarre that it not only demands another viewing, but is also forgivable as a satirical comedy where the jokes eventually take the back seat.

I love samurai movies. Really. I love history movies. I love adventure movies. And I found this movie... 'Shogun's Samurai' I though it was going to be great. There are great actors here. Etsushi Takahashi, for example. He was amazing in 'Kill!' and 'Akage'. Hiroyuki Sanada is also great. So is Sonny Chiba. I don't mention Toshiro Mifune because his role here is just a cameo.Well... The movie was barely watchable. There were lots of problems with it. First, there is the story. It is ridiculously complicated but not compelling enough. Many characters appear but they are not developed at all. Hence I didn't care about their deaths at all. You know, it is quite sad, actually. You see somebody dying violently. You know you are supposed to feel sorry about him. But you don't feel anything because this character is a total stranger to you. I felt sorry for not feeling sorry about the characters.And here is the second problem with this movie - it is filled with pointless death. Many people die. Men get killed. Women get killed. Kids get killed. Why? Nobody knows. I am not afraid of a little violence but this was just pointless. The story would be absolutely the same without so many killings. And since you don't know the characters at all their deaths have absolutely no emotional impact on you. The character's deaths can only disgust you.The next problem with this movie is the fights. You know, that's what many people are watching samurai films for - sword fighting and action. But... Some of the fights are really nicely choreographed, there are some incredible moves and so on. But... Most of the fights are actually quite messy due to the bad camera work. The camera is shaking constantly and you can't see anything. It is not like Paul Greengrass directed the movie but still it isn't what one would expect from a samurai movie.The camera work is a bit strange in my opinion. Sometimes you may see amazing landscapes. There are some very nice shots. Yet when it comes to fighting or some dynamic scene you can barely see anything. Yes, it is a problem. A big problem.On the other hand there is the acting. It is excellent. Really. A few of the characters are actually well developed and you can care about them. It is mostly because of the actors. They did a really good job with what they are given.But that's not enough because they are not given much. 5/10. And I really wanted to like the movie.

I wanted to like this one a lot more than I did. Unfortunately there just wasn't enough memorable stuff in it. Not because it is not a good production, but because so many things happen involving lots and lots of characters, it becomes a struggle to follow the plot. I mean, you can follow it, but the wide scope causes the characters to bleed together. Only a few of them really stand out, the notable one being Yagyu Jubei -- Sonny Chiba's one-eyed ninja "character". Although he isn't the focus of the movie, he is the protagonist to be identified with and he ties all the social groups together.Still, I didn't really like Yagyu Jubei. Sure, he's badass and all that, but what an unrealistic character! I just didn't care about him at all. He was like an anime character; he's some overly idealized manifestation of handsome bravado which borders on homo-erotic infatuation. Hahaha! But then again, isn't that why we like Michaelangelo's David so much? Hrmm....Don't get me wrong, the movie is worth watching. It has some good (albeit fictional) plot twists and a few memorable characters who are rather unique (such as the dainty, foppish castle magistrate or the kids from the ninja village). There are some crucial fight scenes with ninjas, and we even get to see that legendary Japan Action Club fighting babe, Etsuko Shihomi before she dropped off the map! I've never seen the series this was related to (also featuring Sonny Chiba playing Jubei) but an extended TV format would work much better at developing the characters and plot twists. This movie is already pretty long, but it still feels scrunched together. It's like trying to make a crazy Sopranos-type show into a full-length movie. Not gonna work out too smoothly!6.5

"Yagyu ichizoku no inbo" (let's just say "The Shogun's Samurai") is somewhere between horrifically boring and mind-bogglingly painful to watch. As an historical epic, it could have had so many more chances to be a rich saga... but it's really no more than just another cheap '70s action flick with a based-on-real-events story and an eyepatch-sporting Sonny Chiba. Before this movie's halfway point, I was even tempted to commit seppuku! The music is like a thousand dogs in heat wailing in your ears to a tune composed by Ennio Morricone (that's not an insult towards Morricone). The use of zoom lens cinematography is more nauseating than fascinating. And in terms of action, it's really nothing more than a series of brutal attacks and oh-no-they-didn't shocks. What a terrible movie.

Kinji Fukusaku's conspiracy thriller is a rousing entertainment, but its entire premise is a piece of fiction. The second Tokugawa Shogun, Hidetada, retired in 1623 in favor of his second son Iemitsu. Hidetada lived 9 more years in peaceful retirement, following a precedent set centuries earlier by Emporers (back in the days when Emperors, not Generals, ruled the country). Iemitsu's brother Tadanaga was briefly a rival for the position of Shogun, during 1633, but Iemitsu was very far from being a transient, inconsequential placeholder. He ruled until 1651, and took three steps which largely defined public policy for the rest of the Tokugawa era. He violently suppressed Catholicism, using mass crucifixions in his suppression of the Shimabara Rebelion. He closed the country in 1641 to all foreign influence and trade except for a small Dutch trading station in Nagasaki. Finally, he required each of his major vassals (the daimyo)to spend alternate periods of six months in Edo and six months in their home provinces. Beyond the opportunity for surveillance, this system forced the daimyo into ruinous conspicuous consumption and prevented effective challenges to the Shogun for 200 years. This film comes from an age when female warriors had become a commonplace, but well before spurting blood was acceptable. From his tame cameo appearance, you would hardly guess that Toshiro Mifune had more than 50 films ahead of him. The juicy action roles go to Sonny Chiba and Tetsuro Tamba as rival champions of closely related schools of swordsmanship.