How can you go wrong with Sonny Chiba and Hiroyuki Sanada in one movie. Both are great martial artists with quite good acting abilities. In "Shogun's ninja" however they forgot to act. They are just there. It could be that there are different versions available. The version I saw was dubbed in English and had a very seventies musical score. I know that for a seventies production some of the stunts are incredible. Now it just looks horrible. Most of the martial arts scenes are poorly executed or badly edited. This wouldn't be much of a problem if the martial arts was good! To be honest the fights were below average and not that interesting. The ninja's in this movie do have some special abilities. But in comparison with other ninja movies made in the seventies these ninja's don't cut it. These ninja's don't seem to be very powerful and mysterious. For me that is an important factor. I considered that this movie could be meant as a parody. But for that to work the action scenes had to be more exciting. I wanted to like this movie but just couldn't.

Cool-ass action abounds in this Japanese epic of a movie, made with all the verve and skill we come to expect from our Asian brothers. Forget mundane, routine, poorly-done Chinese kung fu movies – and we all know they exist in their droves – and instead feast your eyes on this lavish, exquisitely produced, and extremely stylish adventure yarn. Sure, the plot is little more than "you killed my father and I will get revenge" with frills on it, but this matters not when your film offers up tons of action all the time without any slow spots whatsoever. Not only do you get a Bruce Lee-like invincible hero who kicks backside with his hands, feet, and whatever weapons he has to hand, but you also get a film with samurai warriors and secret ninja-type fighters. Weirdness and wackiness prevail in this senses-pounding assault full of bloodshed, honour, and cheesy dubbing.

The film begins with a bloody massacre, followed by a bloody suicide (or hara-kiri) and then a bloody ambush. It follows through with some bloody fight scenes, some bloody training scenes, and then finishes off with a bloody climax. All in all, it's a pretty bloody movie, as anyone who has seen the likes of THE STREET FIGHTER or SHOGUN ASSASSIN will expect. That means guys turning into human pin cushions with arrow attacks, geysers of blood spurting from knife wounds, bloody squib hits, and limb-lopping frenzy. Violence fans certainly get their money's worth with this movie, which contains more deaths-a-minute than COMMANDO and RAMBO: FIRST BLOOD PART II put together.

The sets and costumes are pretty darned nice and there's a rural feel to the film, with lots of the action taking place in densely-wooded areas full of traps and Spider Ninjas. What are Spider Ninjas you ask? Well, they're guys in camouflage costumes who shinny up trees with weird sound effects and swing from branch to branch like a spider, apparently, and the special effects are darned cool. Unfortunately they all seem to get killed pretty easily by the harder blue ninja types, but not before they burrow under the pebbles and launch numerous heroic attacks on the bad guys.

Other movie highlights include the boiling tar set-piece, the forest slaughter, the kick-ass training sequence (including a master who dies to prove a point to his pupil),and the infamous arrow-defence sequence. The whole climax is excellent to, with a dual of the titans that has to be seen to be believed and a pair of evil dwarf types thrown in for good measure. The soundtrack is just bizarre, packed with '70s soul music that doesn't really relate to what we're watching on screen. Acting is a plus, with a great performance from Hiroyuki Sanada as the ass-kicking hero and the ultimate bad-ass, Sonny Chiba as his imposing nemesis. Even SISTER STREET FIGHTER's Etsuko Shiomi turns up to kick a little ass. So action-lovers take note: check out SHOGUN'S NINJA if you wanna watch death, fights, and violence. It's brim-full of pain.

After almost 9000 of them, it's hard to come up with new ones. Anyway, the movie:

The evil warlord has destroyed the Momochi clan. His minions are running down the last few survivors. He particularly wants the Momochi's legendary gold mine. A map leading to it is on two swords. Will he get them? Or will Sonny Chiba, who has just returned from China to lead the Momochi, win?

It's non-stop action, with many backflips and ninjas swinging on ropes from trees. There are some subplots, like Yuki Ninagawa, who is a member of the Momichi clan, but has been raised by the chief villain, Hiroyuki Sanada, as his sister. However, none of that interferes with Chiba fighting bare-chested against dozens of ninjas at one time.