View Larger Image

Lone Wolf and Cub: Sword of Vengeance Director: Kenji Misumi Number of Items: 1 Format: Color, Widescreen Audience Rating: Unrated Running Time: 83 minutes Studio: AnimEigo Product Group: DVD Release Date: 2003-08-26 Buy from Amazon

Customer Reviews: Total numer of reviews: 28 Average rating: 4.5 "The movie is great. But the DVD transfer is trash!" Don't buy it! The DVD transfer is like trash, although the movie is fantastic. Shame on the DVD producers... That's strange because they had made a really good job with the transfer of the second DVD: Lone Wolf and Cub 2: Baby Cart at the River Styx , which I highly recommend, both in technical and artistic terms. "Animeigo Has Finally Released This On DVD!" Not really a review. Just a news bulletin for anyone thinking of investing in the VHS version of this film because they got tired of waiting for the DVD - Animeigo has finally gotten around to releasing three Samurai Cinema titles on DVD: Sword of Vengeance; Baby Cart At The River Styx; and Zatoichi Meets Yojimbo. Apparently, they will hit the retail chains later in the year (2003). They're definitely worth waiting for. "Kazuo Koike adapts Lone Wolf & Cub to the big screen" I have spent the last 138 days reading one chapter of the manga epic "Lone Wolf and Cub" by Kazuo Koike and Goseki Kojima, only to discover the 28th and final volume has been delayed in publication. To while the time I have turned to the six films adapted from the celebrated comic book. "Kozure Ôkami: Kowokashi udekashi tsukamatsuru" ("Lone Wolf and Cub: Sword of Vengeance") is the first of these films and it is fascinating to look at what specific stories Koike decide to use as the basis for this first film. The basic narrative framework of "Sword of Vengeance" is taken from the eighth episode, "Wings to the Bird Fangs to the Beast," where Okami Itto (Tomisaburo Wakayama) and Daigoro (Akihiro Tomikawa) cross a rickety bridge and enter the Gomori-Juku Hot Springs Spa. The place has been taken over by brigands and Lone Wolf seems oblivious to what is going on until he decides to come to the aid of Osen (Tomoko Mayama), a prostitute pickpocket. This is an extremely interesting choice to be the main story for this film since it has nothing to do with why Ogami Itto is walking the assassin's road. "Sword of Vengeance" also includes the two pivotal backstory episodes from the magna series (although there are elements from a few others, mostly involving foreshadowing). In "The White Path Between the Rivers" (the seventeenth), Ogami Itto serves as the Kogi Kaishakunin execution to act as second to a young lord's seppuku and then finds himself the victim of Yagyu intrique that results in the death of his wife, Azani (Reiko Kasahara) and his implication in an act of treason. Then in "The Assassin's Road" (the ninth) where Daigoro choose to walk the path with his father, refuses to commit seppuku, and confronts Retsudo Yagyu (Tokio Oki) for the first time. Koike and director Kenji Misumi keep the sex and violence from the manga intact. There are lots of fountains of spurting blood as Ogmai Itto slays his foes with his Dotanuku sword. Tomisaburo Wakayama is a stockier Ogami Itto than what was drawn (I thank Frank Miller's cover for Volume 3 of the manga is clearly based more on the actor than Kojima's drawings of Lone Wolf), but he captures the deadly silence of the assassin. Tokio Oki looks more like a Kabuki figure as Retsudo, but that is certainly within the tradition of samurai films (at least of those I have seen not made by Akira Kurosawa). Still, it is the script that I keep coming back to when I mull over this film, espeically Koike's decision to make "Wings to the Bird Fangs to the Beast" the centerpiece of the film. It makes me wonder what Stan Lee would have done if he had written the Spider-Man movie. I doubt he would have been able to bring the story to the screen as intact as Koike is able to do with "Sword of Vengenace." No film could be as good as the original manga, but this certainly does not do the Lone Wolf and Cub story. "LWaC Fans Rejoice!" For fans of the Lone Wolf and Cub manga, this is a dream come true! The movies follow the story of LWaC very well. Obviously, even when transferring the story into six films, some of the 8000+ page story had to be cut out, but all of the important plot points are there. The DVD transfers for these films are amazing. The picture is crisp, the audio is great and the subtitles are some of the best I have seen. The DVD also comes with a booklet that explains important aspects in 16th century Japanese society for American audiences to better understand the story. Animeigo (Samurai Cinema) is currently transferring their entire Samurai catalog into DVD format and this was their first release and it is very well done. Unfortunately, many people have been tricked into getting the "Shogun Assassin" movie, which is a poor edit of the first few Lone Wolf and Cub films into a single and fairly nonsensical film released by another production company. There is just too much to be told in a single film and it is only with the entire six part story (which this film begins) that one can fully appreciate the ultimate tale of revenge that is Lone Wolf and Cub. "LoneWolf and Cub: Sword of Vengeance" It is nice to see that this film has finaly made it to DVD. Though I have seen the series before un-cut and in wide screen on SBS chanel 28 Australia it is a welcome addition to my DVD collection. I my self love Japanese sword flicks movies. But you dont have to be a sword films to like this films. Horror fans would be pleased by the blood spraying. So better put grandma off to bed unless she likes to see guy's with swords through there head's! The DVD transfer is great and the picture is great for the prodution it went through originaly. I am also a reader of the original comic series and am also happy to say how close they kept it to the images in them. I recomend it to sword flick and horror fans alike.