Shogun Assassin 5: Cold Road to Hell (aka Kozure Okami: Jigoku e Ikuzo! Daigoro) — dvd movie review

by Chris   ⋅   July 10, 2008   ⋅   Comment now   ⋅    RSS

Director: Yoshiyuki Kuroda
Starring: Tomisaburo Wakayama, Akihiro Tomikawa, Junko Hitomi, Renji Ishibashi, Koichi Sato
Genre: Japan, Samurai, Action

So, after our reviews of the previous four Shogun Assassin DVDs, I’m pretty sure you know what to expect with Shogun Assassin 5: Cold Road to Hell: loads of awesome swordfights, tricked out machine gunning baby-carriage antics, and more arterial spray than you can shake a stick at. Only, there’s one small difference. This time around Ogami Itto and Daigoro take on a number of supernatural baddies, as well as finally taking on the dastardly Yagyu family. Don’t remember them? Well, Retsudo Yagyu was the one responsible for the duo’s fall from political favor way back in Shogun Assassin 1 (or Lone Wolf and Cub: Sword of Vengeance, depending on where you started).

[If you haven't already, make sure to read my reviews of Shogun Assassin 2, Shogun Assassin 3, and Shogun Assassin 4 ]

Now, being that this is the final, and most important chapter of the Lone Wolf and Cub saga, you would expect this outing to prove to the most harrowing and captivating of all. But that’s just not quite the case. In terms of the other films in the series, Shogun Assassin 5 ranks somewhere towards the middle. The numerous battles are for the most part exciting, though a number of preposterous, and downright lame tactics render some altercations head-scratchers. Case in point: the Yagyu sister whose special method of dispatching an opponent involves tossing knives in the air, and their landing/stabbing through the top of an attacker’s cranium. Even lamer than the method is the fact that it works. Seriously, has no one in ancient Japan thought of running in a zig-zag pattern? Numerous scenes of expository dialog bog down the pace time and time again, usually depicting person x claiming a grievance with person y, and then continuing on to list every technique and affiliation in his resume. It’s much more in line with a Shaw Brothers kung fu film than the previous Lone Wolf and Cub films (or so it seemed). Then there’s the issue of violating the viewer’s trust one too many times. As the story progresses, more and more Yagyu family members continue to pop out of the woodwork, even after the audience has been told the previous reveal (and the one before that) was the last sibling in the family.

But maybe I make it sound a little worse than it is. The final altercation, taking place in snowy mountaintops with both baby-cart (armored) and hordes of ninjas on skis, definitely was a lot of fun. Those with the wall busting, Bugs Bunny digging, supernatural Tsuchigumo clan members were freakishly cool as well. Further, this final entry has to be one of the best looking Lone Wolf and Cub films, with some truly eye-catching and interesting shots (props to cinematographer, Chishi Makiura).

The rest of the stuff I’ve covered pretty much ad-nauseum in other reviews, so I’ll cut this one off here. Shogun Assassin 5: The Cold Road to Hell provides a fitting end to the series, and a surprisingly philosophical one to boot, given its purported status of “highest body count in a feature film, ever”. It may not be the best in the series, but it’s certainly worth a look for fans.

The DVD
Pretty much every criticism of Animeigo’s previous Shogun Assassin volumes apply. The Cold Road to Hell DVD boasts sharp colors and decent sound. The voice dubbing, too, is again pretty solid, though the aforementioned Yagyu sister boasts the first terrible dub-acting in Animeigo’s surprisingly competent re-dubbing project. The dub also featured some rather curious songs sung by peripheral characters. For example, one particularly dirty ditty, “It stretches, it shrinks, it stretches some more…put it in your mouth, all tasty and warm” left me to wonder how accurate the translation was. Still, props to the rest of the voice cast.

As with the other Shogun Assassin titles, the DVD includes a set of awesome program/historical notes, a sizable production still gallery, and a collection of trailers for other AnimEigo releases.

All in all, a decent disc from AnimEigo. If you’ve been collecting these titles so far, you’ll want to snatch this one up as well.

About the Author

Chris Nelson has been a film fanatic for as long as he can remember. A former film and English major, he is now a Software Engineer and contract Technical Writer living in the Silicon Valley.

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