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Released by: Mill Creek Entertainment
Released on: 3/9/2010
Director: Various
Cast: Sonny Chiba
Year: Various
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When BCI folded, a lot of folks were surprised to see low budget boxed set kings Mill Creek Entertainment pick up the rights to a large portion of their catalogue. Not surprisingly, portions of that catalogue are being re-released, sometimes with never before seen on DVD titles included, sometimes not, and they're being offered at pretty low price points making them hard for people to resist. This brings us to their Sonny Chiba Collection, which brings together four titles that were once released as single discs by Adness and then repackaged by BCI. Well, they're repackaged again by Mill Creek, with no extras to speak of, but if you've got a hankering for some Chiba and won't want to lay out too much green, this set will give you that fix. Here's a look:
LEGEND OF THE EIGHT SAMURAI
Kinji Fukasaku and Sonny Chiba made a few movies together, their best being (arguably) either The Yagyu Conspiracy or Deadly Fight In Hiroshima. In 1984 they'd team up for a Samurai/fantasy hybrid film entitled The Legend Of The Eight Samurai that would give Fukasaku a chance to show off his penchant for directing action scenes, and Chiba a chance to chew through some scenery.
Based on the long running series of books by Bakin Takizawa, The Legend Of The Eight Samurai follows Princess Shizuhime (Hiroko Yakushimaru) just as she's forced out of her kingdom by an army of the undead who have just slaughtered her entire family. It turns out that they were sent after her and her kin by the rival Hikita Clan, and she's got to get out of town before they find her and she shares her family's fate.
Princess Shizuhime figures that the safest thing for her to do would be to go and take refuge with her uncle, but that's going to involve a bit of a journey. As she heads out to get a move on, she runs into a samurai named Dosetsu (Sonny Chiba) who, after enlightening her about the curse that is on her family, decides to help her out a bit. Together the two of them enlist the aid of eight samurai, each one with some magical ability.
With the help of the eight samurai, Shizuhime sets out to rescue a few members of her clan's court and get revenge on the Hikita Clan for murdering her family. It won't be an easy task though, as the Hikita Clan has some powerful abilities that they're more than happy to unleash on Shizuhime and her rag tag band of samurai.
I really didn't like this movie the first time I saw it. It didn't help that the first viewing was on a beat up old VHS tape, dubbed and pan and scan and of horrible quality, but the movie itself just didn't click for me. Seeing it again, properly this time, it was a lot easier for me to appreciate the fantasy element of the movie. I think the first time I saw it was expecting a hard hitting and brutal movie, the kind Chiba and Fukasaku are both really well known for, but that isn't what The Legend Of The Eight Samurai is. It's a fun, light hearted fantasy film that provides plenty of action but no small amount of laughs and fun as well.
Seeing it properly also allows you to take in just how good this movie looks. While some of the effects work is dated, the sets (particuarly that blood pool ceremonial chamber) look great, with all sorts of mist and fog and primary colors that wouldn't look out of place in a European horror film from the late 60s or early 70s. There's also some interesting wire work in the film (common in Hong Kong cinema but not so much in Japanese filmmaking) highlighted by the giant snake attack at the end of the film.
Plenty of action, monsters, magic, evil queens, giant snakes, and goofy rock music make this one fun, while Sonny Chiba, Henry Sanada (of The Last Samurai and The Twilight Samurai, Etusko Shiomi (Sister Streetfighter herself ) and Kenji Onba (who appeared opposite Sonny in Kill Bill Vol. 1 provide a great cast with great screen presence. The film is a little long in some spots and drags a little bit in the middle, but ultimately it makes for a fun trip. Just don't go in expecting the seriousness of The Yagyu Conspiracy or the hard hitting brutality of The Streetfighter and you won't be disappointed.
NINJA WARS
Ninja Wars (or, in Japan, Igo Ninpocho - the title of the book upon which the film is based) is pretty nutty stuff. The story begins when a feudal lord named Matsunaga (Akiro Nakao who periodically shows up in Godzilla films from time to time) becomes obsessed with the slinky, sexy Lady Ukyo (played by pop singer Noriko Watanabe who handles two roles in this film, her first) who also happens to be the daughter of the reigning Shogun.
Matsunage thinks that hooking up with her would be fine - not only she a hottie but marrying her would pretty much solidify his spot as the next Shogun. Unfortunately for him, she's already into someone else - Lord Miyoshi (Noboru Matsuhashi of Samurai Reincarnation). So Matsunaga does what any love struck warrior spirit would do, he goes to visit a wizard named Kashin (Mikio Narita of Legend Of The Eight Samurai) who agrees to hook him up with a love potion that is sure to win the lady's heart once and for all.
There are a few minor complications to overcome, however. First, Kashin will need some tears from Ukyo's twin sister, Kagaribi (also played by Noriko Watanabe). No problem, he sends out a few thugs to take care of that and voila, she's kidnapped. Unfortunately for Kashin, Kagaribi's boyfriend, Jotaro (Hiroyuki 'Henry' Sanada), has noticed that she's missing and soon heads off to track her down. Sadly, Jotaro soon discovers that she's dead so he's forced to avenge her death - so that's what he sets out to do.
Mitsumasa Saito, who helmed G. I. Samurai a few years earlier, proves he's still quite adept at directing epic action films. He's also not afraid to crank up the exploitative elements in his films either, as evidenced by the film's notorious vomiting ninja warrior. Throw in all manner of oddball fight scenes, many of which involve a wide variety of weapons and tricks, a gratuitous Sonny Chiba appearance (it's a bit part but it's quite honestly the highlight of the film) and you've got yourself a winner even if it is about as goofy as they come.
Chiba protégé Hiroyuki Sanada is the main star of the film and he shows that he's got what it takes. Chiba fans will recognize him from many of their collaborations together such as The Executioner and The Yagyu Conspiracy and even those not familiar with his 70s film should still recognize the man from the Oscar nominated The Twilight Samurai and more recently the Tom Cruise film, The Last Samurai. Being a member of Chiba's Japan Action Club, it shouldn't surprise anyone to see Mr. Sanada upon more than one can of whupass in the film - the man's got fighting skills in spades and the film gives him ample opportunity to show off the goods.
G.I. SAMURAI
War movies, samurai movies and time travel movies have all long been genre staples but to the best of my knowledge, 1979's G. I. Samurai (a.k.a. Time Slip) is the only film to combine all three of those elements into one single film.
Directed by Mitsumasa Saito (who also directed Chiba in Black Magic Wars), the film follows Yoshiaki Iba (Sonny Chiba) and his modern day battalion of Japanese soldiers, complete with jeeps, tanks, and modern weaponry, who travel back through time to feudal times where they come up against an army of samurai.
Iba is forced to keep a cool head and retain control of his soldiers, but a sneaky samurai named Kagatore (Isao Natsuki) sees these modern day warriors as his chance at the big time and he conspires to team up with them so that he can use their weapons against the current reigning shogun.
Though Kagatore seems to be on the up and up about all of this, and promises to help the men find their way back to their proper place in the time slip, there's something about him that Iba can't quite put his finger on - something suspicious.
Released in North American in a version forty minutes shorter than it's Japanese counterpart, G. I. Samurai has always had a reputation as a fairly goofy film in genre circles. Seeing it in its native language and in its original aspect ratio and at its full length makes all the difference in the world for this film though, and the battle scenes in particular really shine through on this DVD.
Yeah, it's true that the story is pretty farfetched and maybe a few of the actors overdo it in a scene or two, but hey, war is Hell, right? When Iba and his men are forced to stand against an entire army of samurai you know it's going to hit the fan and when it does, boy howdy, it's a doozy.
Cinematography, sets and costumes are all handled well, and seeing the samurai alongside the modern day soldiers makes for an interesting visual contrast. Chiba does a solid job in the lead, as does Natsuki.
RESURRECTION OF THE GOLDEN WOLF
There's something just plain bad ass about seventies action films from Japan. Sure, the Italians did a fine job with their cop films of the film and you certainly can't discount the American entries like the Dirty Harry films or the Bronson movies that were being pumped out of the studios, but the Japanese action films had different kind of grit that's hard to explain. Resurrection Of Golden Wolf is a prime example of that special kind of seventies Japanese grit.
An afro'd Yusaku Matsuda (of Black Rain) plays Asakura, an employee of the Towa Oil company by trade. Asakura's got a lot more going on though than just his gig as an accountant for the large corporation - in his spare time he's managed to rob a bank of over a million Yen. He finds himself in hot water though when he discovers that all of the bills are marked, making them very difficult, if not impossible, to spend. Being the clever bastard that he is, he figures he can buy a truckload of smack with the marked bills and sell the dope for a tidy profit, seeing as he'll get a quantity discount, and in turn make the marked bills some unlucky dope peddler's problem.
While Asakura is doing his thing, there's another scam artist making the rounds in the office. Sakurai (Sonny Chiba of The Street Fighter films) and his lovely ladyfriend have uncovered some dirt on the higher ups at Towa Oil and are using that information to blackmail a few of the big wigs for a sizeable amount of cold hard cash. When Asakura and Sakurai eventually figure one another out, they decide to go for the big one and make out like bandits but things, of course, don't go as planned and they find themselves in a situation far more dangerous than either one of them had initially planned for.
Yusaku Matsuda does a fantastic job with his character in this film that is all about contrast. Handling both sides of Asakura's life with ease, he's believable both as an accountant and as a conniving theif, his wild hair and intense gaze giving him an air of intensity that really works nicely in the movie's favor. Seeing him on screen with Chiba is a blast and the two hardboiled men have a natural chemistry together. It's this chemistry that is the film's strongest point, and it makes excellent use of its two main male stars.
While Resurrection Of Golden Wolf starts out remarkably strong with its wild camera work and oddball seventies fashions and locales, it does tend to drag a little bit in the middle. At over two hours long, at times it feels like the editor could have been a little more active in his role, but all is forgiven once the ending comes around and it's all about the action once again.
Sex. Violence. Strange Hair. Sonny Chiba. This one's got pretty much everything you could want out of a rough and tumble beat'em up and watch'em bleed action film, and that's only a good thing.
Video/Audio/Extras:
The anamorphic widescreen transfers in this collection don't really seem to differ much from the earlier BCI/Adness releases from a few years back, which is good news and bad news. The good news means that all four films are in pretty good shape, presented in their original aspect ratio, and fairly colorful. The bad news is that they're still interlaced and show some mild compression artifacts. The good definitely outweighs the bad here, however. Detail levels are all right and print damage is never more than minimal.
The Japanese language Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo mixes are fine and free of any major problems. There's some shrillness in the high end in a couple of spots and one or two scenes throughout the four films that are a little on the flat side but I'm really nit picking on this one. For the most part, the disc sounds just fine and while the mix isn't going to blow anyone's ass out the backdoor of your home theater, it'll do the trick. Optional English subtitles are included for each film, but there are no alternate language dubs of any kind here.
Aside from static menus and chapter selection, the discs in this collection are completely barebones.
The Final Word:
If you don't already have the four movies in this set by way of one of the earlier domestic releases, this is a great way to get four rock solid Chiba actioners in their original language and in their original aspect ratio for a great price.