The beginning is awesome, but it lags in the middle, and it’s pretty confusing overall. I still don’t get what erasing the message accomplished and, man, publicly flogging a three year old is a choice.

japan, 1973, japanese

KENJI MISUMI


Lone Wolf and Cub: Baby Cart in the Land of Demons

I thoroughly enjoy these movies. To me they are the perfect type of popcorn flick, something to just enjoy. Overall the quality has risen and dipped, but each one so far has been consistently fun, and I can honestly say I’m enjoying the journey. All of that applies most definitely to this, the fifth film in the series.

To be honest, I don’t have much else to say about it. Kenji Misumi is back in the director’s chair for this one, and the awesomely beautiful cinematography is back. The story this time is a bit of a muddle. It starts out awesome, dips very hard in the middle, and mostly redeems itself by the end. There are some bewildering story choices made, including a truly weird scene of child beating.

But, yeah, that’s about it. I think the thing I find most interesting about this film, is that the central mission of the character is mostly being ignored. I mean, his ultimate enemy is the big bad behind the story here, but it’s really only very tangentially related to Ogami. He’s once again doing the Zatoichi thing of just getting involved because he gets roped in.

We’re five films in though! And, really, the main plot hasn’t advanced much since the first one. That’s not to say I don’t enjoy all this Demon Way in Hell stuff, but man this is putting a lot of pressure on the next film to make something coherent out of all of this.