Shogun Assassin 2:  Lightning Swords of Death (1972)

 

Disgraced Samurai Ogami Itto travels the countryside with his young son as an assassin for hire.  While at an Inn he protects a woman who was sold by her family into prostitution and has killed the man who was taking her to the brothel.  The authorities show up to arrest her but he refuses to release her to them.  As per the customs of the area he allows himself to be severely beaten so that she may not only be unpunished for the crime but is free from the brothel as well.  After recovering from the beating he is hired to kill the corrupt governor of a bordering territory.  But the governor finds out that he is going to kill him so he sends assassins after Itto and his son.  The rest of the movie is Itto killing all of the governor’s men and finally killing him in a final battle that has to be seen to be believed.  

 

This second movie in the series sees the disgraced Samurai Ogami Itto continue on his journey of vengeance with his young son.  As with the other films in the series this movie is a blast to watch.  The story does start off a bit slowly as the characters are introduced, but once the action starts it doesn’t let up.  Now be warned that some of the characters are introduced only to disappear until the big climatic battle.  But these movies were never really about the story, which only serves to tie together the wonderful fight scenes.  The story is wrapped up nicely at the end of the movie, with the bad guys dead and Ogami Itto and his son on the road again.  Performances in this movie are okay.  Basically with the exception of Tomisaburo Wakayama, who plays Ogami Itto, the cast is there to be killed off one at a time.  But then again this isn’t the kind of movie that you would sit down to watch for the acting performances.  

 

The first thing that jumps off the screen from a technical aspect is the quality of the fight choreography.  This movie has some of the best swordplay that you will ever see in any samurai movie anywhere.  Toss in some killer martial arts and you have an action movie that delivers the goods.  Plus the last ten minutes of the movie is basically an extended fight between the remaining bodyguards of the governor that Itto has been hired to kill and Itto himself.  It is one of the best action sequences that I’ve ever seen on film.  Of course you do have the dubbing and music that only adds to the fun of watching a movie like this.  Oh and I hope you like blood, because there is plenty of it on display here.  

 

 

 

3 ½ out of 4

 

reviewed by John Shatzer

 

© Copyright 2008 John Shatzer