To me, this movie is perfection.

Simply A Masterpiece

When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

I must confess that I was a sucker for all things Japanese since an early age, especially Samurai, Ninjas, Cartoons and Sushi. There could be no bigger delight but to watch the duo Hiroyuki "Henry" Sanada and Sonny Chiba, be it in "Ninja Wars" or "Legend of the Seven Samurai". That chemistry just couldn't go wrong – until I saw "Shoguns Ninja" for the first time; a little part of my soul died that day.Primarily responsible for this was the soundtrack: what we get here is a pseudo-Jazz soundtrack that the composer MUST have stolen from an illegally imported Porn flick (I suspect a New Yorker production, around the years 1975-76). But that wasn't the worst part yet: They made Hiroyuki Sanada dance to this music! A free-style, 'innovative' dance, like you might expect it in an audition for "A Chorus Line". They made him dance, for a whole stretch of three minutes! Seeing the embarrassment on my heroes face, my heart sunk and I wished that I could likewise sink into the ground and disappear in shame.Did I just write that nothing could go wrong between the chemistry of Chiba and Sanada? There is one exception: "Shoguns Ninja". Well, there is no chemistry and almost no interaction between the actors, at times making you believe that the actors were actually not together on the same shooting.I often would like to view Sanada as "the Japanese Christopher Lee": having come from very humble beginnings, he has added quality to very cheap pictures through his sheer presence; originally with his splendid looks, at an advanced age with splendid acting skills. "Shoguns Ninjas" in a way is to Sanada, what "To The Devil A Daughter" must be to Sir Christopher: In "To The Devil A Daughter" Lee had to drop his pants; in "Shoguns Ninjas" Sanada had to dance! Sony Chiba has often been called "Japans answer to Bruce Lee"; not because he was such a great martial artist but because Chiba had charisma that would keep your eyes glued to the screen. In films like "The Street Fighter" Chiba was grunting, snarling and grimacing like an angry simian while tearing off the testicles of his opponents. In "Shoguns Ninjas", playing the villainous Shogun, Chiba plays it cool – way too cool. In fact, he doesn't do more than move about apathetically like a block of wood with arthritis. Never does a single facial muscle move, not even in his dying scene (Spoiler ahead: the hero kills the villain), when a Sanada thrusts a dagger into his throat. Not a single emotion is displayed. Nothing! But at least it's a Ninja film, the title assures us. That means, at least Sanada – after he's done dancing – will be doing some mystic Ninja-stuff, use freaky hidden weapons and generally decapitate fiends with his sharp katana, right? Not. You see, Sanadas character Momochi grew up China, returning home to Japan having mastered what every righteous Chinese has mastered: Kung Fu. And, presumably also because he grew up in China, Sanada gets to act like a village bumpkin from an early Jackie Chan movie.Yes, the movie has its moments: there are some decent battle scenes and the hand-to-hand fights, although relatively few, are well-done – but again, if I want to see Ninjas, I watch a Ninja-movie; if I want to watch Kung Fu, watch a Shaw Brothers picture and if you want Kung Fu slapstick, go for said Jackie Chan flicks like "The Drunken Master".Alternatively, you might want to watch a dance-film – go for "A Chorus Line", but steer clear of "Shoguns Ninjas". Three points from 10: one for old time sake, one for Sanada (despite dancing) and one for Sonny Chiba (despite doing NOTHING).

Sonny Chiba plays the shogun in pre-Edo period Japan. He's a bad mofo who eliminates a rival clan and then turns on his master to take over as shogun. Despite this, he fails to kill the rival clan's son who escapes to China and comes back to avenge his family. The kid learns martial arts and carries with him swords that contain a map to the clan's secret gold mine (hence everyone wants to kill him to get them). There was some good karate action in this flick. It's kind of cool to see Sonny play the bad guy and even fight a ninja named Hattori Hanzo (fans of Kill Bill should love this one).My problems with the movie are that it was the same damn plot all over again and the music. I expect bad music in some of these things, but it sounds like 70s porn music. The action sequences were kind of cool, but they have this crappy slap-bass, fake jazz sh*t in the background, so the tension isn't a high as it should be. I dunno, maybe the actual Japanese release had a better soundtrack. The other thing that threw me off was watching the hero dance around a fire. What the hell? It seemed like he was trying to do tai chi, but it looked more like Tommy Tune warming up for some big Broadway production. You don't look like a hard ass when you're spinning and leaping about.Despite all of this, Chiba fans should enjoy his performance. As per usual, Sonny is the glue holding this thing together.

Hiroyuki Sanada is once again playing a part with his mentor Sonny Chiba, this time as opposing forces. Basic plot thread is easy to follow and hangs together fairly well. Very typical lot of self sacrificing colleagues to insure that the hero wins in the end, but at what cost!There are a number of rather impressive fight scenes, and while they were Pretty typical, there was a bit more variety in the weapons that I liked. The pretty chinese girl with her red lacquer nunchuck and the hero with his short sword(s). A few great scenes. The original destruction of the hero's castle while he was a child sticks with me. I liked the battle in the ruler's castle, with the ladies in waiting using their naginta to defend their lord. A number of mysterious strangers that show up at the right time to help.The use of muskets in many of the battles adds both a thread of historical accuracy, and the challenges of working them into a martial arts based flick. I found the ninja in the correct color of blue rather refreshing over the typical mis-used black. But the camoflage ninja where rather strange, since the pattern looked identical to the recent military designs. The one thing absent from this compared to many of the genre is the use of magic.

Hi Fight Fans!!!!! It's Daniel Kahn Nelson, here once again to give you a proper statement on a great martial arts film!!!!This is without a doubt the greatest ninja film ever created! This film had it all- Sonny Chiba, Samurai, spider ninja, knife fighters, swordsmen, assassins, black ninja, kung-fu people from china, blade-staff women, beautiful scenery, great choreography, a great story, romance, vengeance, treachery, and just about every weapon that could be used in it's type of film. My god, what more could an action movie fan ask for!!!!!!! I mean wow. Well after getting that out I'd give this beautiful work of art called a film 20 out of 10!!!!!Truly a must see for any type of action movie fan- kind of like Scareface!-Once again this is Daniel Kahn Nelson saying WATCH THIS FILM !!!!!