It's funny watching the elements come together in this complicated scam. On one hand, the set-up isn't quite as complex as it seems, but there's an easy sense of fun in every exchange.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

Easily the biggest piece of Right wing non sense propaganda I ever saw.

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

Spliced together from a couple of early '70s movies in the manga-inspired LONE WOLF & CUB series, SHOGUN ASSASSIN enjoys a bit of a cult reputation in the UK after it made its way onto the banned list when it first came out. It's a reputation that precedes it, with tales of spraying arterial blood and gore all over the place, and despite the hype the movie does live up to expectations. Despite the dodgy idea of editing movies together, it actually works in this instance, thanks to the simple narrative which essentially sees a lone samurai warrior pushing his kid along in a cart and tackling a series of assassins and ninjas along the way. It's as easy as that.The film has a very distinctive feel to it and anyone who's at all familiar with early '70s Japanese cinema will recognise the kind of cinematography and acting you see. It's all very cold, with minimal dialogue and stern expressions, and there are some quite beautiful moments in places thanks to the camera-work. The idea of having the boy narrate the tale is a clever one and the father-son relationship makes things more than watchable. Of course, we're all here for the action, and it doesn't disappoint as there are tons of inventive battles and skirmishes, each different from the last. Our hero, Lone Wolf, must battle all kinds of people, from gangs of ninjas to female assassins, lords and heroes and finally a trio of masters with some truly nasty weaponry in store.It's pretty sadistic, and expect severed limbs and plenty of blood geysers all over the place. Tarantino sure as heck got a lot of inspiration from this film when he went on to make his KILL BILL flicks. I really enjoyed SHOGUN ASSASSIN, which didn't flag for a moment; it's sometimes weird, sometimes different, always watchable, with an unconventional pair of heroes, humour in places, and a ton of well-staged action to recommend it. It's certainly left me with a longing to watch the original six-film series and see the full story...

This is not an actual movie but a re-edited version of the first couple of Japanese 'Kozure Ôkami' movies, with English voices added to it. Nevertheless this doesn't prevent Robert Houston from giving himself full credit for directing and writing this.It's not like I hated watching this but it all also seemed pretty pointless to me at the same time. This version got obviously made to aim more toward the American market but that of course just doesn't give you the right to just take a bunch of movies and edit them into one and cash in on it.This re-editing of course also takes away a lot out of the movie. The storytelling isn't always anything too great now and scenes often too rapidly follow each other, without making much sense. It's like a re-edited version of only the action sequences. Guess it's good for the pace of the movie but there is a reason why Japanese movies are often such slow moving ones. It takes its time to build up the story and put down its characters. This of course just isn't very much the case with this movie.But even so, this still remains a good watch, due to it's great source material. It's action sequences especially stand out and it's one of those movies with exaggerated fight sequences and squirting blood. The fans of the genre will still get a kick out of it, though they would of course most likely prefer the original movies. This movie really made me want to watch the originals as well, so I guess this movie is still good for something.7/10http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/

I'm making it a new goal to see all of the films on the DPP's video nasty list and this one is on it. Granted, most of the films on the list are trashy exploitation films that are probably fairly painful to sit through but this one is amazing. This is probably the greatest exploit I've seen so far and it's much more than just an exploitation film.The film is dubbed so in that case it's sometimes hard to tell if the acting is good or not but it seems great otherwise. The story is well thought out and moves almost perfectly. The gore and effects are absolutely stunning. This movie seriously took me by surprise and amazed me completely.Anyone who likes classic exploitation needs to see this film. It truly is the best one I've seen so far and I hope you find it as good as I did. See it today!

I heard about this movie from a guy I worked with at HMV Trocadero in London, and being a fan of Samurai flicks and violent Asian cinema (Kuroswa, Takeshi Kitano, John Woo, all the usual guys), I couldn't wait to see it. I first saw a dubbed VHS version about 10 years ago and it blew me away, so you can imagine my reaction when I saw it in the original Japanese language on DVD. Even better is the recently released DVD box set of all 6 Lone Wolf & Cub movies, the ultimate in Samurai slasher action. The first two movies in the series, 'Sword Of Vengeance' & 'Baby Cart At The River Styx', were edited together to make 'Shogun Assassin' and once you've seen these two you can't really go back and watch 'Shogun..' again as it just doesn't compare with the originals. However, if you can't get hold of the 6 full movies, 'Shogun Assassin' is a must for any fan of the Samurai genre. I never thought I'd ever see an on-screen swordsman who could compete with Toshiro Mifune, but Wakayama matches him for skill, style and, most crucially, cool. You should also check out Takeshi Kitano in his recent remake of Zatoichi.