Shogun Assassin

Tricky. I haven't seen the original Japanese series yet, but I figured I might go with this one first. Shogun Assassin is an edit of the first two Lone Wolf films, apparently botching up Japanese films is something Americans used to adore. There are some interesting scenes here, but I'm pretty certain I'm going to like the original films a lot better.

When Itto's wife is murdered by the shogun, he doesn't want to live under his reign anymore. Unwilling to commit harakiri, he kills the shogun's men and moves away with his young son. He becomes an assassin for hire, but the shogun can't just let Itto go, and he puts even more men on his tail.

There are some nicely stylized action scenes, but they're ruined by terrible dubbing and some nonsensical editing. The story is quite fragmented as if you're watching a compilation video rather than an actual film. Maybe seeing the original films will change my mind about this "experiment", but for now, I'm not impressed with Houston's work.