written by Ogami on 05/10/2006
Good Points
Having not read the story, one can enjoy a rather gory couple of minutes bathing in blood and stumbling around limbs cut off the bad. Stunning action is guaranteed, and there is a wide selection of the weapons of the Tokugawa Era Japan. The story is very touching.
Bad Points
On the other hand, this is just a dumb one film version of the Babycart series (6 films), the adventures of Ogami Itto and his son, aka Lone Wolf and Cub, based on hundreds of pages of the original manga.
The separate scenes are badly tied together, making it a bit difficult to get the real meaning and sense of the story.
Besides the English, dubbing is terribly weak, the picture is not wide enough, so many of the actions are off the screen, and the disc lacks the bonus features totally.
General Comments
Do not bother seeing Shogun Assassin at all.
Try to get your hands on the six Lone Wolf films instead.
If you're only interested in the orgy of blood and sword fights, watch Kill Bill 1.