Shinobidô

"Shinobidô" is a Jidaigeko (historical drama) set in feudal Japan. So if you are expecting a massive showcase of martial arts then you will be sorely disappointed. This is, as the genre reveals, a historical drama, with emphasis on drama and the storyline. Sure there are action scenes in "Shinobidô", but it is not the selling argument of the movie.

The story is about a gang of vindictive Shinobi who are seeking to conquer a village and will lay waste to all who stand in their way. But the villagers are not entirely unable to defend themselves, although outpowered by the relentless Shinobi.

For a movie of this type then "Shinobidô" was entertaining, even though it wasn't of the grandest of budgets. It is the story, the characters and the acting that is the fuel of the movie, and it was all there in abundance.

If you are watching this movie for the action, then it is mostly only the last part of the movie that will be interesting for you.

This is an entertaining movie if you like the Jidaigeko genre. However, if you are not a fan of that, then it is highly unlikely that you will find much enjoyment in "Shinobidô". To enjoy such a drama to the fullest you must have an interest in old Japanese culture and history.

A friendly neighbourhood female ninja (or kunoichi, to genre fans) hangs around in a tiny town, seemingly waiting to discover the identities of those who are out to find and destroy her ninja village. Of course, whilst in town, she carries out numerous acts of kindness and develops affections for a fallen samurai, now the town drunk, with his wife passed away.

The film starts out clearly made on a low budget, but does have the promise of entertaining; sadly, not much happens other than the paint-it-by-numbers character-building of the kunoichi, which is all terribly dull.

To make matters worse, the lighting in the film is appalling - one second it's bright, then dark, then as it should be... it's as if someone decided that it would be a good idea to film all indoor scenes without a roof on a sunny day with plenty of clouds. Given that the action sequences aren't particularly worth sticking around (or even fast forwarding) to get to, there's nothing really to recommend and I turned it off after some 45 minutes, having skipped 20 of those to see if it picked up.

Overall, a waste of time, money and potential.

This is not Ben Hur or Gone with the Wind. It is a fun made-for- movie TV show in almost the exact style of the Kage No Gundan series with Sonny Chiba in the early 80's. So much so that I expected to see Hattori Hanzo show up in the middle of the movie. This looks like the pilot to a TV series or the first of a series of low budget action movies. I doubt I'd want to be stuck in a movie theater for 90 minutes with this movie, but I watched it in three 30 minute chunks over a weekend and was nicely entertained. For doing what I think it was supposed to do, be a melodramatic action movie with a simple plot in the vein of Samurai "spaghetti westerns", it succeeded.

Aimi Satsukawa does a good job as an undercover ninja who has to fight her feelings to get the job done and Ryôichi Yuki does a great job acting as the "bad buy with a good heart".

If you like the Hanzo series of TV shows, this is perfect for you. If you liked this movie and want your fill of slightly schlocky but fun to watch samurai action shows, look for the "Kage No Gundan" TV series. If you want deep meaningful motion picture art, look elsewhere.