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"Child and expertise for rent," reads the banner flying from the wooden cart of rogue samurai Itto Ogami (Tomisaburo Wakayama). With his infant son and a baby carriage stocked with a veritable arsenal in tow, Ogami rents his services for 500 pieces of gold while awaiting his revenge on the corrupt clan that murdered his wife. Director Kenji Misumi draws his distinctive graphic style from the legendary manga series written by Kazuo Koike (who adapted his own work for the screen) and adds an inspired cinematic device: when Ogami enters battle, the world falls silent, literally, until his sword strikes. The fights are savage--blades slash, limbs fly, and blood spurts like geysers--yet the film relaxes in moments of serenity and tenderness as the cooing baby boy marvels at the wonder of the world. An essential of Japanese action cinema, it launched a classic six-film series. --Sean Axmaker
 Customer Reviews 
Itto, you better find the guys who took the special features.
Rating: 3
The comic series Lone Wolf and Cub is one of the most epic, action packed, and respected series of all time. It's influenced many artists and writers, while at the same time been copied by countless people who overdo it more often than not. It quickly got a few movies due to its success, and did fairly well, though there's a lot of criticism that the later installments tried to one-up the first couple volumes (I'll see about that soon enough). But there are still a lot of people unfamiliar with Lone Wolf and Cub, by that name at least. If you mention Shogun Assassin around more mainstream samurai movie fans, they're sure to know exactly what you're talking about. Shogun Assassin was a movie composed of the first two Lone Wolf and Cub movies, edited together to appear as one movie. And the thing is, it worked pretty well. Heck, that's how I got into everything. After watching the first two volumes of Lone Wolf and Cub, it's astonishing how much they were able to edit out for Shogun Assassin but still keep the plot intact and not exactly lose anything in the process. But that sounds like I'm disrespecting the movies in whole. Lone Wolf and Cub: Sword of Vengeance is a fantastic start to an epic series, even if some parts haven't aged too well. And the dvd itself? Solid.
Ogami Itto, a skilled warrior with no equal, is the Shogun's Assassin. He is hated by the allies of those he executes, as seen in the beginning as he executes a very young boy of about 4 years old as his followers curse Itto. He has a son, Daigoro, and a wife that he cares for deeply without making it too obvious as to keep his cool exterior. Tragedy strikes one day as several men break into his home and murder his wife, as well as leave a tablet in his shrine with the icon of the Shogun's enemy. Sure enough, his employers come over to inspect his home after several men commit seppuku, leaving notes about Itto being a cause for it. They find the tablet in his shrine and all hell breaks loose. Itto is given another day before they make a final verdict on what is to become of him and Daigoro, which can't be good news no matter what decision they reach. Itto presents Daigoro a ball and his sword, telling him that if he chooses the ball, he'll join his mother and be happy. But should he choose the sword, he'll travel with him to avenge her death. Obviously, Daigoro goes for the sword, resulting in a moving moment with Itto. The higher officials come back soon after, and find the two in ceremonial death robes, making note that Itto is faithful even to the end, about going by the books. But they've bit off more than they can chew when Itto says he's no longer a human, but a demon with nothing but the intention of getting revenge on those responsible for killing his wife, who just so happen to be linked to his now-former bosses. Itto dispatches many a solider, but is outnumbered. Just then, he throws off his white robe and reveals another underneath with the logo of the Shogunate. No matter what, you would NEVER do anything to defile something with the logo on it (similar to disgracing your country's flag), and they give him an ultimatum. Itto will fight against their best man. If he loses, he dies of course, but if he wins, he is free to travel the land without being attacked by his boss' men. It's obvious what the outcome is, since there are 5 more movies in the series, but hey, it's still suspenseful.
The first thing that I loved about Lone Wolf and Cub were the fights, of course. There's a lot of style going on with some moves, but all of it is very real. Wakayama does an excellent job with sword techniques, from drawing it, to stealthy slashes, and putting the sword back in its sheath. Where many samurai movies and shows (animated or otherwise) these days will rely on lame "ultimate attacks", Itto does none of that, usually going for the perfect strike like most samurai would. Think some of Kurosawa's later samurai movies and not Seven Samurai where they'd wildly slash in some scenes, and you'll have a good idea of what to expect, only cooler. There's a lot of tactics involved with the opposing forces, which was good to see as well. Another thing that impressed me about Wakayama was how he -looks- like a wolf. Just look at any close up shot of the guy and you'll see for yourself. He really fits the part, and is able to act perfectly as well. Tomikawa as Daigoro is excellent as well, and isn't an annoying child actor for once. He's often quiet, and sometimes all he needs to do is a facial reaction in order to get his thoughts across. Also, honorable mention goes to Oki as Retsudo. The guy looked creepy in the comics, and Oki does him justice, though I don't know if that's a compliment...The whole movie moves at a fairly steady pace- when there's no fighting, the plot is solid and if you pay attention, you'll get some good lessons about that time in Japan and just how loyal you had to be to your clans before risking death. And some of these guys get it pretty bad too. This leads me to my only gripe- a lot of the dismemberment and deaths are a little too fake for their own good. Don't get me wrong- I'm well aware that the movies were made in 1972, but some things are on par with the opening zombie attack in the original Dawn of the Dead, orange blood and all. What gets done right looks good, but every few kills has a pretty goofy one, and I could easily see watching this with a group of people getting at least a few laughs when they show up. Otherwise, there's nothing wrong with Sword of Vengeance- it kept my attention from the beginning to the excellent final fight, which was just genius.
Sadly, the picture quality doesn't seem to be touched up very much, if at all. There's a lot of issues, from grain, halos around people and faded colors. It looks slightly better than vhs quality, so I imagine that if Lone Wolf and Cub were released for Betamax or Laserdisc, it looked the same on those. It's presented in an anamorphic transfer, and it's obvious that some things are cut out on the sides, but nothing too important. The audio is a mixed bag. At first, I thought there was a problem with the disc since there's no sound effects in many scenes: only the slashes of weapons, but I hear that this was intentional. So when you don't hear Ogami's footsteps when he's running on a wooden deck, or people running through water, don't fret. It's still weird, but you get used to it. Everything's loud and clear for the majority of the movie, with a little fuzz during death screams. There are two subtitle options as well- full and limited. Full give you the descriptions of certain Japanese words that may go over the heads of viewers who aren't familiar with older Japanese culture. Limited didn't work for me on this disc- it kept taking me back to the main menu, so I can't comment on it. I'd imagine they'd just be subtitles for the dialogue and no extra notes though. The subtitles are extremely accurate, and I was impressed that almost every word was properly translated. Good job AnimEigo!
Special features-wise, they really skimped out. Aside from the original trailer and stills from the movie, there are "just" linear notes. These are actually VERY insightful and will give you a great lesson in feudal Japanese history if you read through them all (26 pages!), but I can see a lot of people skipping over them because of how much text there is. Almost every scene that you could question is explained here, like what I mentioned about defiling an object with the Shogunate symbol on it. However, it's not like you couldn't just find the same info online, so this feature is slightly redundant in that sense. I would've really liked some behind the scenes featurettes or something like that, involving the cast and crew, or showing how they did some of the fight sequences when limbs would be lopped off. A commentary is pretty much impossible to ask for at this point in time, especially with the main star, Wakayama, since he sadly passed away of a heart attack in 1992. Since there's already a box set of all the movies out, I don't see much of a chance of the movies being rereleased as a special edition box set with the extras it deserves.
If you're a fan of the comics, give the movies a shot to see how well they translate to the big screen. If you're a fan of samurai movies or have only seen Shogun Assassin, you're in for a treat with Sword of Vengeance. It won't appeal to everyone, since most people have their own mindset of what a samurai movie's "supposed" to be about, but the majority of people I've talked to have nothing but good things to say about the series. For the movie, it gets an easy 4.5 stars out of 5. But this is the dvd overall, and with the lack of special features and the picture quality leaving more to be desired, I can't help but give it a 3. But don't let that stop you from getting into everything- if you like it, you'll be hooked. As of right now I've only seen the first 3 movies and they've doing a great job so far. I can't wait to see how they do the final one.
The First Episode Of The Lone Wolf And Cub Series!
Rating: 5
This is the first episode of the "Lone Wolf and Cub" series. And if you have never seen any of these episodes, then you are in for a treat [Providing you don't mind a lot of violence in films]. However, the violence is necessary in order to advance the film's plot. The main protagonist(s) in the film are Ogami (Tomisaburo Wakayama) and his infant son (Akihiro Tomikawa). This first episode sets up the events which will lead Ogami and his infant son on a trek of vengeance and violence as they fight off the Yagyu clan. Ogami was the offical executioner of the Shogun. In a side note: The late Tomisaburo Wakayama was the elder brother of Shintaro Katsu of Zatoichi fame.
However, Ogami Itto's wife is murdered and he is framed as a traitor by the Yagyu clan. They want Ogami, who is the Shogun's official executioner to be forced to commit seppuku [ritual suicide] by the Shogun. However, Ogami sets off in the Japanese countryside as a Ronin [masterless samurai] and commences to kill off as many of the Yagyu clan that he comes across. And he is very efficient at this. The film is full of action and does not disappoint. Wandering around Japan, with his infant son in tow [in a baby cart] Ogami is an efficient killing machine, and his sons baby cart is stocked full of weaponry. There is plenty of blood in this film, as the director, Kenji Misumi does not spare any amount of blood to get his point across.
I noticed in one of the reviewers reviews that he saw many of these films [Japanese] in Los Angeles during the 1970s at the Toho Labrea Theatre. So did I, and this is also where I saw many of the Zatoichi episodes. But also at the now defunct Fox Theatre, in Venice, California. And I agree with his veiwpoint that one cannot compare these films to a Tatsuya Nakadai, or Toshiro Mifune type of film. Each of these Lone Wolf and Cub films have a unique quality to them. [Not that I am comparing these to those great Japanese legends]. However, these films are also highly entertaining too. I know many who disparage the Zatoichi films, which I grew up with, and it is irritating to listen to people knock these types of films, which I find extremely entertaining. I also love the early classics too! You can like them both, as they are both entertaining genres. I highly recommend this film, and recommend that you delve deeper into the series, and also take a look at the Zatoichi films.
My first time seeing lone wolf and cub
Rating: 5
Absolutely breathtaking. I thought it was a bit too violent, a bit too sexual, and a little weird. But all of these things only added to the experience. This is a movie truly for comic book fans. But then again, I like serious movies that are extremely violent and well, it looks like I am watching the right type of stuff. I got a version distributed by red sun but it has the animeego logo all over the menu screen. An anime company rerleasing real movies, I wasn't sure about this. But I thought the liner notes were an awesome extra as it took me about 15 minutes to read it all before I watched the movie.
Now the story is so captivating, it is the first time in a while that I was watching an asian film and was really excited, but patiently waited and watched with great interest as the story unfolded. The final battle of the movie was great and really has you saying, "man, I hope this story continues". And ALL of the characters are wonderful as they are bursting with character in their appearence. The acting is also superb.
The version I got from red sun is anamorphically widescreened amd the picture is remastered very well. The sound cuts out a few times in the movie, but it happens a couple of times early on and doesn't end up making a big difference. And overall the sound is very good.
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