Shogun Assassin (30th Anniversary Collector's Edition) (1980)

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.

"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.

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(2008 HOLIDAY TEAM)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.

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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.

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My introduction to these characters was via the outstanding Lone Wolf and Cub series. I have 5 Lone Wolf films in DVD (not Blu-ray). But I have to say, those DVDs have better resolution and color than the Shogun Assassin movies in this collection. That's my technical complaint.

As for movies, any potential buyer should be aware that these movies are intended for those who love cheesy dubbed Asian action movies. There is no Japanese audio track. There are no subtitles. Shogun Assassin was a recut/reinvention of two Lone Wolf and Cub movies, made for the American audiences. We're talking B movies way way way down in the Bs. If you like samurai movies, like the Samurai Trilogy, Yojimbo, Hari Kiri, 47 Ronin, Zatoichi movies, then this collection is NOT for you!

I regret buying this collection mainly because I didn't realize what I was getting. That was my mistake. However, I am surprised at the lower quality of the film footage. One would expect a Blu-ray mastering to have better results than older DVD transfers of essentially the same footage. I suppose the SA films are already 2 or more film generations from what might be available for LWAC, so maybe this is the best they could have done. At any rate, it's very disappointing to me.

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