A young boy, named Kai, was found outside the Bamboo forest by Lord Asano and his
entourage. He was taken in and cared for by the Lord, but shunned at the same time for being a halfbreed. As he grew older Kai fell in love with Lord Asano’s daughter, Mika, but he knew they could never be together, but she too felt the same way for him.
Lord Asano is priviledged to host a tournament for the Shogun and the neighboring Daimyos, one of them being Lord Kira, who wants to take over Asano’s lands. Kira has a witch under his command and uses her to embarrass Asano at the tournament, which Kai notices and tries to stop, and bewitch Asano to cause treachery in front of the Shogun. Displeased with his actions the Shogun orders Asano to preform seppuku, and to cease any retaliation orders that Mika must marry Kira. To assure there is no retaliation Kira throws the head of Asanos Samurai, Oishi, in a pit for a year and sells off Kai to a pirate-esque group.
Upon release Oishi goes to find Kai and gathers the rest of his men, to disobey the orders of the Shogun, and get revenge for their former master…
This was a decent movie. It wasn’t the most original story, but then again it’s “based” on true events, or stories, so I guess this makes it the original and everything that came after the retelling. I guess I should say I’ve seen it executed better, like the movie Gladiator, it had all the same tones just in a different time and place, obviously.
The costumes and action were some of the best parts of the movie. There were 3 CG elements in the movie that I feel took away and made it a little cheesy, one of which was the witch turning into a dragon, they could have done that better, I think.
This movie is one that I would say you don’t have to see in theaters, but will be good for a home experience.
I give it 2.5 out of 5
Written by Jeff Potts
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