GoJoe Spirit War Chronicle (2000)

This isn’t the easiest movie to explain, but here goes.  You have a samurai that was a pretty nasty guy in his youth.  He eventually becomes a monk and starts looking for redemption.  At some point he believes that his deity has told him to go to a particular bridge and defeat the demon that guards it with a special demon slaying sword.  So he steals the sword from his order and heads off to the bridge.  Along the way he encounters the cutthroat bandit group he used to raid with as well as a clan of samurai that are trying to slay the demon as well.  Many fights and piles of bodies later we find out that the demon isn’t a demon at all, but in fact the son of an ousted samurai who is being groomed to wage war on the empire.  Insert a big climatic battle in the end and you have the movie.

I’ve actually made the story sound much more straightforward than it really is.  The narrative is all over the place switching between several different storylines rapidly.  I love samurai movies and am well practiced in following the stories that can rapidly change, but even I found this one confusing.  I was also surprised by the long stretches of this movie that contain no action.  This isn’t a movie that should try and hook you with it’s story and characters.  I also found the ending of the movie to be confusing and a bit silly.  Then after investing so much time and effort in the movie you get to the end and the whole thing ends up being bogus. 

The cast is decent in the movie.  The storyline moves so quickly that it becomes nearly impossible to gauge the performances.  But I will say that Daisuke Ryu in the central role of Benkei does a pretty good job.  I also have the feeling that with better material and more screen time I would of enjoyed the some of the other cast members performances as well.  I also want to mention how great the entire cast is in the choreographed fight sequences.  There isn’t enough action in this movie, but when there is action it is very well done.  Part of the credit for this has to reside with the cast and their abilities. 

In addition to some excellent fight choreography the movie also looks great.  There clearly was a great amount of time and effort put into the costumes, weaponry, and locations.  You won’t find a better-looking samurai movie than this one, and trust me I’ve seen a ton.  The locations that they chose for the filming are incredible as well.  Much of the film takes place in an old forested area and it looks awesome.  But the best set in the movie is that of the bridge.  I don’t know if this is something they built or if they were lucky to have found it, but either way it is perfect for the movie. 

With a tighter story this movie could have been one of the better samurai films I’ve seen in a while.  But in the end the story drags the whole thing down and makes this at best a mediocre movie.  If you really dig these sorts of films I recommend a rental at most.

2 out of 4

reviewed by John Shatzer

© Copyright 2008 John Shatzer