Shogun’s Shadow (1989)

The best of screen wushu meets the best of Japanese chambara in this fast-paced and wholly enjoyable samurai actioner featuring the action direction of the great Sonny Chiba and the onscreen martial arts mastery of Hu Jianqiang.

During Japan’s feudal era, the dying shogun’s first son, Takechiyo, and his attendants are attacked by fighting monks while away from the capital. Rescued by a band of ronin led by Gyobu Igo (Ken Ogata), the adolescent Takechiyo comes under their protection as they begin a perilous journey to reach Edo before a samurai warlord named Shozaemon Iba (Sonny Chiba) and his inexhaustible military forces capture and kill the boy. But a simple escort mission takes a sinister turn when they discover that the forces controlling their pursuers reside at the very heart of the capital. With an entire army in pursuit, Gyobu leads his small band of heroes forward in a seemingly hopeless struggle to preserve the life of the next rightful shogun.

Shogun’s Shadow represents a last blast of martial arts and action mastery from costar and action director Sonny Chiba. Chiba had spent the last twenty years rising through the declining Japanese film industry to become its greatest action filmmaker and star. Despite the fact that by the ’80s, the chambara movie genre had become a mere shadow of its former self, Chiba and his Action Club were continuing to release quality period action films that almost single-handed kept the genre alive while advancing it in terms of fight choreography.

This film finds Chiba at his best in one of his last major chambara movies. The simple plot of a small group of heroes pursued by an army of samurai through a picturesque wilderness provides plenty of opportunities for many outstanding action sequences that combine his taste for comic book-style heroics with moments of subtle and no-so-subtle drama from director Yasuo Furuhata.

We’re hit with robust action right from the start as martial monks leap out of trees, fire a hailstorm of arrows and swing in on a massive battering ram to assault Takechiyo’s party. Just about everything anyone could imagine gets tossed in here including mammoth explosions, coordinated attacks by spear-twirling warriors, sword duels, and ninja-style ambushes from trees. Scenes involving flights and fighting on horseback are quite impressive and seem like an all too painful throwback to the days when horses were injured and/or killed by trip wires and falls to get a realistic action sequence. In one instance that I usually joke about in reference to the likes of a Jerry Bruckheimer period movie, there is actually an exploding horse. Not only that, but the rider kicks it off by setting himself and the horse on fire in a dramatic charge into a mass of soldiers. Over-the-top scenes like this are luckily tempered by the developing relationship between the young boy and his protector as played by Ken Ogata.

I couldn’t imagine anyone else starring in this film than Ogata. In a reserved and quiet performance, he speaks volumes with his eyes and his actions. In a nice story development, we come to realize that his character has a vested interest in the boy that goes beyond his duty as a paid bodyguard. At the same time, a rivalry builds between Ogata and Chiba, whose screen time is limited, but memorable. This leads to the inevitable duel that is exciting, but rather unconventional. Instead of staying out in the open in a straight forward fight, the two crash their way through building floorboards, walls and just about any other obstacle lining a village street.

Missing from the solid cast are Chiba’s former protégés Etsuko Shihomi and Hiroyuki Sanada. But I find it rather curious that there is a cast member who appears to have been picked to fill in as Sanada. In addition to resembling Sanada, he also wears the signature fishnet shirt and performs the kind of ninjitsu-styled action Sanada once did in Chiba’s early ’80s films.

Of particular interest to kung fu movie fans will be the appearance of Hu Jianqiang (Martial Arts of Shaolin), star of numerous Mainland Chinese martial arts movies. In this film he plays a mute monk (convenient for a non-Japanese speaking cast member) who is part of the escort party. It’s a wonderful role that allows him to show off his brilliant wushu skills, including acrobatics, monkey kung fu and weapons handling with the rope dart and three-section staff. This is also a treat as few Chinese martial arts movie stars have appeared in Japanese chambara movies. Chiba ably makes him fit right in and makes him look as good as any Chinese action director could have.

The production standards for this film are generally good with some great locations used for showcasing the action, like a scene where the heroes struggle to cross a chasm on a rope with their enemies closing in. However, some poor use of blue screen effects and fake limbs are minor detractors. There is also the problem of excessive theatrics taking place in the shogun’s court. These scenes in the capital do not match the tone of the drama unfolding out in the wilderness. Unfortunately, the movie closes with one of these theatrical scenes and diminishes the impact of Ken Ogata’s excellent contribution.

Even with its faults, Shogun’s Samurai is a very entertaining movie that’s ably propped up by generous amounts of dynamic action, lush scenery and a standout performance from Ken Ogata. It holds up very well next to Chiba’s previous work and provides both an excellent introduction to his cinematic works and a career-defining capper to a long string of martial classics.