Bloody Brilliance!

I have spent most of the past six months watching Kurosawa films. Determined to work my way through the Jap classics, Shogun Assassin had to be in there somewhere.

Shogun Assassin has a very basic story-line to it, but that in no way demeans from the entertainment of the film. It is about a man who executes the Shogun. His wife is murdered by an insane shogun who fears enemies that do not exist, paranoid with madness.

The man then becomes Lone Wolf and takes his son with him, travelling on a quest of vengence after the shogun and his vast army of assassins who try to kill Lone Wolf and his son Daigoro.

I could not believe the ammount of blood used in this film! Proper showers from necks, arms, legs... whilst the film may look slightly dated, it is easy to forget that it is not a considerably contemporary film.

With regards to character, Lone Wolf and Daigoro are heroes from the very beginning, as they are thrust into a deadly situation not of their making. It is easy to be engulfed in the action and narrative.

One thing that annoyed me about this film was the voiceovers. I was hoping that the DVD would have a subtitle and original japanese dialogue option, but there was nothing of the sort. But.. that's the only negative critique I have, even though it's more a critique of the DVD, not of the film.