I really wanted to enjoy Sure Death Revenge. The opening is pure ironic genius, flipping the often quite stuffy Samurai genre on it's head by adding a sarcastic voice-over and freeze frame photography to an atypically manic swordfight. After this introduction, I kind of felt let down though, as sure enough, genre conventions slide into place like so many paper doors, and we're left with a ponderous, glacial brow-furrowing fest.
Really and truly, given that the back-plot of this film is rendered irrelevant by the fact that TV series Hissatsu! that this movie is a spin off from has never, and I'd wager, will never be shown on US or UK TV, this movie could have been a good hour shorter. I'm a pretty big fan of samurai flicks, and am aware of the near monolithic scale and momentum they can achieve through slow and subtle pacing, but this movie does nothing except drag. Nothing happens of particular import, unsurprising given that this is a small-scale tale, so why the large-scale runtime?
That said, if you can manage the film without drifting off, it's well directed and well acted. It's anticlimactic and deadly dull, but you can't fault it technically. Visually it's pleasing and colourful, and the picture is excellent considering it's release date. I really recommend you save your rental fee for something like Ran, Seven Samurai or the recent Samurai Commando, all of which outstrip this effortlessly, but if you're a samurai nut or a Fukusaku completist this will hold at least a little charm for you.
Really and truly, given that the back-plot of this film is rendered irrelevant by the fact that TV series Hissatsu! that this movie is a spin off from has never, and I'd wager, will never be shown on US or UK TV, this movie could have been a good hour shorter. I'm a pretty big fan of samurai flicks, and am aware of the near monolithic scale and momentum they can achieve through slow and subtle pacing, but this movie does nothing except drag. Nothing happens of particular import, unsurprising given that this is a small-scale tale, so why the large-scale runtime?
That said, if you can manage the film without drifting off, it's well directed and well acted. It's anticlimactic and deadly dull, but you can't fault it technically. Visually it's pleasing and colourful, and the picture is excellent considering it's release date. I really recommend you save your rental fee for something like Ran, Seven Samurai or the recent Samurai Commando, all of which outstrip this effortlessly, but if you're a samurai nut or a Fukusaku completist this will hold at least a little charm for you.