Shogun Assassin 4

Shogun Assassin 4: Five Fistfuls of Gold

Ogami Itto and his son are back in this fourth installment of the Shogun Assassin franchise. This time a desperate clan wants to hire them to kill the head of their clan, his concubine, and the daughter that he is passing off as his son. If the shogun were to find out of the man’s deception (passing off his daughter as his son) then the clan would fall from favor and lose honor. This is all further complicated by the fact that a document revealing the secret has been entrusted with a holy man that actually turns out to be a ninja! So after fighting and defeating five emissaries of the clan, each of them carrying 1/5th of his payment and killing the holy man/ninja to recover the document Ogami Itto arrives at the clan. Under the guise of returning the document he is given audience with and kills the offending man and his family, thus fulfilling his contract and saving the clan.

In the interest of full disclosure I want to remind everyone that I’m a huge fan of Samurai movies and more specifically the Shogun Assassin series. So I’m probably inclined to enjoy these no matter what. But that being said I think Five Fistfuls of Gold is my favorite of the series. The story is interesting, engaging, and does a fantastic job of portraying the ideals of Samurai culture. You have the emissaries who realize that if Ogami Itto is really as good as advertised they are going to die for their clan. Not only that but you have guards dying to defend their lord against a man that they hired to kill him! I also really enjoyed the small side story with Ogami Itto’s son willingly taking punishment to keep a promise to a woman that really doesn’t deserve his loyalty. This leads to a scene where Ogami Itto is clearly proud of his son and shows him about as much affection as you will ever see in one of these movies.

One of the best parts about any of these Shogun Assassin movies are the fight sequences and this one is no different. The choreography is really well done and the swordplay is top notch. As expected there are the over the top blood spurts and dramatic dying declarations. But this movie also contains some pretty nifty fights with chains and a fight underwater, which was cool. Additionally picture and sound are great as always. I know that some purists complain about the dubbing. I’ve seen the movies both ways and can honestly say I don’t mind the dubbing at all.

For more information about this movie and the rest of the series go to http://www.animeigo.com/ I highly recommend the box set with all five movies.

4 out of 4

reviewed by John Shatzer