Shogun's Shadow (1989) User Reviews

Decent and Thrilling

[drunkenjedi420 · 8/10 · 5 September 2005]

At first this movie is a Sword battle, it then turns into a Drama/Action movie.

The characters are great, and the fight scenes are almost Unreal. This unrealism makes it even more exciting. Sword fighters jumping from Trees 100 feet to the ground. Intense slashing scenes coupled with nice disciplined moves.

There are great characters in the movie and it has a real feel to it. I almost at one point felt like I was in the 1800's following in on the action.

All in all I would say this movie is just nothing but great!

Cool samurai/adventure film

[Yocke · 7/10 · 3 June 2004]

This was a cool samurai/adventure film. Lots of swordplay action, and lots of other cool action scenes too. Too bad Sonny Chiba's not in it more than he is though. He plays the main villain, so we don't get to follow him as much as the team of heroes.

The story is about a child who is the heir to become the next shogun, but the bad guys doesn't want that. They want some other kid to become the next shogun instead. Anyway, to become the next shogun the kid has to be in a certain temple at a certain time, and it's up to the good guys to get him there, and the bad guys try to stop them.

This is pop-samurai action at its best. Go look for it.

A great and overlooked Samurai movie.

[gvis · 8/10 · 15 October 2019]

When I was eagerly chasing Asian movies about 5 years back this movie never popped up for some reason. I discovered it by some rare movie website. I'm sure glad I did.

This movie has all the ingredients for a movie of my taste: sword fights, nice scenery and a moving story.

The story isn't too deep; a young kid is a heir to a shogun title, his older brother hates that and wants him dead. About 7 samurai take up a journey to bring the kid safely to his destination.

Not the most compelling story, I know, but this is an action movie. The scenes and scenery are enough to keep me interested. My only problem was the cheesy hair metal song that was played during one of the battle scenes. Other than that, this movie is recommended for fans of action/adventure movies.

One of the best samurai-movies I have seen

[Maxibon · 9/10 · 5 February 2002]

This is a great movie, if you don't take it too seriously. The hero-characters are very different from each other, and their unique abilities makes them a great team. I love this movie - it's great fun to watch.

One of the best 80s samurai action flicks

[Tyrke · 9/10 · 20 February 2015]

I love this movie! This is a fast-paced action movie from 1989. Even though it can be considered a jidaigeki (Edo period drama), in many aspects (pacing, character development, gore) it reminds me of the Shaw brothers wuxia movies. What it lacks in depth and intricacy, Shogun's Shadow more than makes up in action sequences, above average camera-work and matching soundtrack. For samurai buffs, who like hardcore, slow-paced Edo-epics, this might be a bit cheesy, but for people (including myself) who love movies such as The Five Deadly Venoms or Invincible Shaolin, Shogun's Shadow will be an entertaining 1 hour 46 minutes with sword-slashing ronin, epic standoffs and some banging J-rock interludes.

Shadow of the Shogun's Warrior

[Oslo_Jargo · 5/10 · 7 June 2024]

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

*Plot and ending analyzed*

Shôgun Iemitsu no ranshin - Gekitotsu (1989)

At times, I kept thinking to myself that this movie seemed like some strange soap opera. Some of the acting is not spontaneous and real. There is also no sense of urgency to be detected. Even the fight scenes are bland and impotent, as if they are just rehearsing movements on screen.

Some heir (with the worst wig) to the shogun's throne is slated to be assassinated by some political schemer. A group of mercenaries are protecting him. Why? I don't really know. Perhaps for payment, but then later for 'tradition and honor'. Firstly, the young heir is some excessively spoiled and pampered kid. He is bland and annoying. I did not really care about him or his plight. The woman caretaker lights a fire to dry his clothing when they are in the mountains attempting to escape the soldiers of the political schemer? That is just some ridiculously bad writing that one can not understand. So they get quickly captured, another absurd piece of writing. The enemy soldiers seem to find them with relative ease.

Secondly, it makes no difference to us who lives or who dies in this movie. It is all just Japanese political schemes at work. No one emits any sense of humanity. All the characters are tedious and lackluster.

They also added some odd fantasy type elements that are not interesting at all. They put some eerie clouds in the sky when they show the castle. Hundreds of arrows coming out of nowhere to kill everyone. Then hundreds of spears. They put in firebugs in a preposterous scene. All the mercenaries are like cartoon characters. The similarly-dressed soldiers at the beginning were corny. Even Sonny Chiba looked entirely disinterested in his scenes. And what was going on with the urinating scenes? Was the writer bored? The writers also lifted a lot of scenes from Rambo: First Blood Part II (1985). And the fighting scenes get tedious after 20 soldiers are not able to kill any of the mercenaries.

I did not think that this movie was above average. See it if you can, but don't expect much.

Grade: C -

Most preposterous scenes:

Take your pick, but the river gorge crossing scene takes the award.

The scene with the heir in the mountains has his face so clean that it is beyond ridiculous. Didn't they all just go through some difficult terrain? You would think that at least some mud or leaves would have stuck to his face.

A must-watch!

[anders-olsen80 · 8/10 · 29 April 2023]

Another one in a line of beautifully crafted Asian movies. Brilliant cast, brilliant direction, and well written. Like other movies such as Farewell My Concubine, this is a real treat for anyone who likes quality Asian cinema.

It has a well balanced amount of drama and humour, but also some well choreographed action, which again is part of this style. I will not dwell too much of the plot itself as it is better to just watch the movie. However, the movie is not very predictable, and its characters are very three dimensional with both likeable characters, some great anti-heroes and brilliant villains.

Don't wait, give it a watch.