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Lone Wolf and Cub 2: Baby Cart at the River Styx Director: Kenji Misumi Number of Items: 1 Format: Color Audience Rating: Unrated Running Time: 81 minutes Studio: AnimEigo Product Group: DVD Release Date: 2003-09-09 Buy from Amazon

Customer Reviews: Total numer of reviews: 20 Average rating: 5.0 "Dan's review" Baby cart at the river styx is the second installment of the baby cart series,and is landmark film making at it's best.The realistic ballets of violence set the tone for an almost artistic angle for the film.Lone wolf proceeds to roam around with his son(Diagoro)in a baby cart,while slashing his way through enemies that attack him,and also collecting payments for requested killings.He comes up against three body gaurds that happen to be brothers,'The god's of death',and follows them into the desert for the last showdown of the movie,awsome! "One of the top action films.." This is the second Lone Wolf and Cub film in the series and is probably the best. This is a great film. Most of the the great fight scenes in the other film, "Shogun Assasin", were derived from this movie. This movie is very bloody at times, body parts get sliced off and blood sprays everywhere, so its not for kids but I highly recommend the Lone Wolf and Cub films for any action loving adults. "Battling Blades bring Blood and Brutality" I wanna mention up front that though this is probably only a 4 star movie overall, action movie's are held to a lower standard in my book, and by those standards this is a 5. This movie's not big on plot, but I'll talk about it some anyway. In the first film, Sword of Vengeance, which I haven't actually seen, Ogami Itto, the Shoggunate assassin, is framed for treason and his wife is murdered by the Yagyu clan. Thus he is now a Ronin, and he and his young son Daigoro wander the country as assassins. In this film they are hired to assassinate some guy to prevent the Awa clan from losing their secret dye processing method, or something like that, while they are continually hunted by the Yagyu clan. The man they need to assassinate is being guarded by the 3 Gods of Death, who wield a spikey-fist, a mace-type thing and a claw hand, whom Ogami will need to defeat in the final showdown. The 2 protagonists are quite appealing. Ogami is your standard vengeance-seeking, morally dubious hero who is taciturn and isolated. Perhaps not the most original characterization in the world, but it's a good one none the less. And what can I say, Daigoro is a cute kid. Their relationship adds a greater emotional depth to the film, and not in the traditionally manipulative use of children in film. i.e. you sympathize with Ogami when Daigoro is in danger because Ogami is his father moreso than because Daigoro is a little kid. The villains are alright too, though they don't really do all that much other than fight. There's a bit of evil laughter on their part which seems a bit forced, but it's not to big a deal. Other than that the acting is generally more than competent, though it's harder to judge this sort of thing when you don't speak the languange. This film is beautifully shot, with lots of great outdoor locations. Lotsa nice long shots as well, which remind of Leone's westerns and accentuate the landscape too. The dune filled desert at the end is particularly stunning. Overall the film has great atmosphere.(The scenes where Ogami listens to the drums of the Kurokawa are especially atmospheric) The music is good enough if not remarkable. It suits the material, but nothing really jumps out at you. The action scenes are just great, as they ought to be in an action movie. These are nice, old fashioned actions scenes where you actually get to see what's going on, and the camera actually sits still. It's melee stuff, of course, but always with weapons. Though the fight at the end is good, the ones with the female Shinobi and Kurokawa in the forest are the best. This series is most famous for its extravagant, over the top gore, and it doesn't disappoint. Limbs fly, arteries spray 20 feet or more, faces are cut down the middle etc. The most notable scene comes early in the film where, a pack of female Shinobi slowly dismember their opponent, eventually leaving him a limbless and rather dead torso. Despite the stylized nature of the gore this film isn't camp. Though the gore is over the top, and some of the moves they use in battle can be a bit whacky, the film is very serious and professional otherwise, and always plays the material straight. Well, what else is there to say. It's got great action, which is all you need for an action movie, and some good atmosphere and cool characters to boot. Definitely worthwhile. "freaky fountains of blood!" If you only buy one Samurai-action slash-fest blood-gushing film this year, this is the one to get. My favorite in the Lone Wolf series- I first saw it years ago in S.F. on poor quality VHS- It's wonderful to see it released on DVD! It has the prerequisite quick editing, tension, action, and wanton severing of limbs, i.e. the fantastic opening battle with the wicker-masked assassins. I especially like the 1970's style photography and psychedelic effects- i.e. when the female ninja team is trying to freak out our hero with their swirling colored fabric. See where Tarantino got his ideas from! "Best of series" This is probably the best in the series, the level of violence and nudity is somewhat toned down vs. the book and the resulting screenplay is more realistic. The note about 'Shogun Assasin': I didn't realize it before, but Shogun Assasin is basically a compilation of the first movie (Sword on Vengeance) and this one. The story line a slightly different and it is narrated by Daigoro. If you have a choice, see the full version and see it on DVD. I was amazed at the quality of the DVD release, the bonus material, while not extensive, is quite interesting as it includes the liner notes and various trailers.