ShadowHunters

Shadow Hunters (1972)

Three Ronin (master less Samurai) travel the lands hunting Ninjas for a price. The three Ronin named Sunlight, Moonlight, and Jubei all watched their families and positions destroyed by Ninjas. This explains why they spend their days at the dangerous occupation of shadow hunting. But killing Ninjas puts the three in direct conflict with the Shogunate who controls all the daimyos (individual clans and families). The Shogunate uses the Ninjas to dig up dirt or in some cases plant it to dishonor certain Daimyos in order to seize their land and possessions. The Shogunate needs their wealth to prop up their own corrupt rule. But since the power of the Shogunate isn’t without limits they have to play by these rules. Most of the movie is about the efforts of the Shadow Hunters to help a small mountain daimyo hold onto their lands that just happen to contain a gold mine. This daimyo has a document that promises their land can never be taken from them, which they need to present in the capital city of Edo with the help of the Shadow Hunters. Of course the Shogunate can’t allow this document to reach the city and sends all available ninjas to stop them. Let the mayhem ensue.

So I think that my plot synopsis might make this movie seem more complicated than it really is. The story is very straightforward and accessible to a western audience. The characters of the Shadow Hunters are introduced, have very understandable goals, and are pitted against the ninja quickly. This allows the movie to get to the good stuff, which is basically an hour and a half of sword play with funny scenes between the three Ronin mixed in. That might seem a bit simple and repetitive, but the formula works and the movie is very entertaining. The performances of the three leads are all very good. But my favorite has to be Sunlight, played by Ryohei Uchida. Not only does he have all the best lines, but he gets all the girls as well. Normally the characters in these movies are very stoic and adhere to the code of the Samurai (as the Moonlight and Jubei characters do), but I found the Sunlight character to be a nice change of pace.

Of course you can’t have a good Samurai movie without excellent fight choreography and blood spraying everywhere. This movie delivers one nicely done fight sequence after another from start to finish. And not only do we get the traditional swordsmanship, but there are a couple of nifty ninja weapons as well. Toss in some severed heads and the always-fun arterial sprays and you have a really good time. All of the other technical bits are up to snuff as well, from the excellent camera work to the wonderful locations.

This is one of the best Samurai movies that I’ve ever seen. But in addition to the great fights and cool story it has something that the other movies from this genre lack. There is a good amount of comic relief with the Sunlight character. So if you want a few laughs to go along with you swordplay then this is the movie for you.

3 ½ out of 4

reviewed by John Shatzer