Baby Cart: Le territoire des démons

There might come a time, where some might get fed up or at least might not be as excited about something that is going on for seemingly forever. Then again, who can say no to nudity and blood mayhem all over the place? Well maybe quite a few can, but bare with me on this. Or with the movie for that matter, because that is more important of course.

Apart from the main actor, the cub might be the same one too. Since they made them back to back, it is possible. And while especially part 2 and 3 had some innovations gadget and gimmick wise, those are being now repeated or re-used I reckon. That's not overall a bad thing, but just so you know. Not sure where the anime went, but it is obvious that this had something to rely back on. Those who loved the previous entries (though you can watch them however you like almost - except from the evolution of the "weapons"), will like this too - or even love it. Dependng on your taste of course.

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!

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.

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.

Even though all the festival-scenes are a sub-plot that adds little to nothing to the story, I find this an excellent film. The idea and the enactment of the five Samurai, each giving Ogami a part of his mission as their dying words, exemplifies the value of loyalty and truth above all. In all the Lone Wolf films honor is considered the highest value, and there is a continuous presence of morality throughout the series. In this film I was touched by the incredible loyalty of all the Samurais of the Kuroda clan. Even when on fire, fatally wounded or bleeding from every orifice, they still continue to serve their clan. In fact they care so much for their clan that they hire Ogami to kill their own, perverted masters, because their actions bring dishonor and great danger to the clan.

Story-wise certainly the most elaborate of the Lone Wolf films, I found this one to be the best.