Kozure Ôkami: Meifumadô

This installment (#5) in the 'Babycart' film series finds Ogami Itto and Ogami Daigoro (played by respectively Tomisaburo Wakayama and Akihiro Tomikawa) recruited to protect the honour of a clan from its own leader, who is trying to pass off the offspring he sired on his concubine as his true heir. Much of the film moves at a slower pace than others in the series and there is a lengthy interlude in which little Daigoro, separated from his dad during a festival, has his own adventure. This sequence drags a bit although it is entertaining to see the stoic cub demonstrating baby-bushido as he is flogged for maintaining an honourable silence (like father, like son). Once the sanguinary twosome are reunited, the action picks up until the grand guignol finale, which even by the grim standards of this bloody series, is a bit shocking. The convoluted plot doesn't make a lot of sense (as others have pointed out, if only one of the waylaying samurai had died immediately when impaled on Itto's blade (as so many others have), the entire complex test-message scheme would have failed). That said, no one watches the Babycart series for tight plots and cohesive narratives. 'Land of Demons', the penultimate entry in the series, is notch below the previous installment (the splendid 'Baby Cart in Peril', with its topless, tattooed female assassin) and a bit less over-the-top than the final adventure, the frosty 'White Heaven in Hell' (with its incestuous impalement scene), but remains a watchable entry in the bloody, great series.

Where the Lone Wolf and Cub adventure has been delightfully frenetic up to this point, the fifth film is a decided change of pace. Much more deliberate and pensive, Baby Cart in the Land of Demons spends an unusual amount of time in one place, toying with a more nuanced (at times even confusing) story, while also fleshing out an important supporting character. Young Daigoro, stone-faced son of the wandering master at the center of this great storm, finally gets his close-up and proves to be every bit as determined, soft-spoken and unflappable as his father. His scenes are the ones that stuck with me afterward, resonating in a way that felt fresh while also remaining loyal to the saga's identity. Daddy, meanwhile, has his hands full with a difficult five-pronged onslaught and a pair of complex, intertwined kill contracts. His actions at the film's climax once more cast the character in dark grey fabric, a recurring theme for the series, and prove that (where duty is concerned) he hasn't changed all that much from the very first time we met. Less visceral and rubber-tendoned than any of the earlier entries, and perhaps overly ambitious with that tangled primary storyline, it's good stuff if a touch below the standard its brethren have thus far maintained. An outlier in many ways.

This is the fifth of six films of the Lone Wolf & Cub Series. A clan offers to hire Lone Wolf Ogami Itto for an assassination but they want to test his skills. They set five individual warriors upon him, each to test a certain skill. After each is defeated, the warrior is to give part of the story and a fifth of the payment. Upon defeating the fifth warrior, he is finally given his full mission.

Of the five, the poisoning is the most dramatic and the most interesting. The story is relatively simple except the side trip with the Cub. It's interesting that the Cub has his own little adventure. As always, Lone Wolf and Cub do a mass slaughter in the end. My only concern is that he has kill a little girl. It doesn't matter how bratty the girl gets. He still kills a little girl but I still like the massacre. I also really like Cub having his own adventure.

The indefatigable Itto Ogami continues his journey through feudal Japan with his son in tow. BABY CART IN THE LAND OF DEMONS is the fifth in the six-film series and for the first time, the film shows signs of flagging. It's not that I didn't enjoy this movie, because I did; rather, I started to find the plot shenanigans to be ever-so-slightly familiar, if not a little tired. Much of what goes on in the film has been seen before, and although the action sequences are as vivid as ever, there's little here that hasn't been done previously (and better).

As per usual, Ogami finds himself caught up in plotting between various factions and must form political allegiances to see him through. The opening of the film sees him tackling a series of martial arts masters, all of whom test him unawares to make sure he's worthy of the job. The plot then takes a lengthy and slightly pointless detour to a market village where Daigoro is accused of helping a pickpocket conduct her business. Although this sequence has been incorporated to allow greater characterisation of Ogami's son, I found it dragged the pacing down to crawling speed.

Thankfully, things pick up for a relatively exciting climax which sees Ogami finishing off his job. There's still a great deal of entertainment value from watching the various characters occupying different positions in Japanese society at this time and how they react to our hero. The cast give understated performances and the action is typically well shot, but I'm actually looking forward to the end of this series now: better to end on a high than dragging it into the ground.

These movies were infamous for their incredibly brutal and bloody swordplay sequences, but equally impressive IMHO was the leading actor- Tomisaburo Wakayama a.k.a. "Lone Wolf" was surely the greatest martial arts star ever. The command and authority with which he wielded a sword (and other weapons) was just phenomenal. The blade truly was an extension of himself, and his use of it was the definition of lethal, with none of the unnecessary/show-off flourishes so desperately thrown about by today's wannabes. He had incredible presence and charisma- easily on a par with the likes of say Eastwood or Bronson- with eyes that reflected pure death, and the desolation in his soul. There were moments in the "Babycart" series where you'd swear he was the personification of his namesake, the Wolf. You never doubted for one second that he WAS shogun executioner, masterless samurai, assassin for hire. One look at him in action, and you could readily understand why his enemies trembled at the mention of his name, and ran from him in sheer terror. Alas, Lone Wolf is one with void now, but his legend will live on forever in these films.

Forget Toshiro Mifune. Forget Takakura Ken. Forget Sonny Chiba. Forget Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan, Jet Li, Donnie Yen, and any of those wire-reliant ballet dancers from Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon. And CERTAINLY forget any American martial artists that you could care to name. Tomisaburo Wakayama was, is, and forever shall be, THE MAN!