Let's recapitulate. Once upon a time, Tomisaburô Wakayama was the chief executioner and head-cutter-offer for the Shogunate. One day he came home to discover his son born, his wife murdered, and evidence of disloyalty to the Shogun planted by the evil Yagyu clan. He pledged himself and his son, Akihiro Tomikawa, to the road to Hell. Now they travel the countryside, with Tomikawa in a baby buggy equipped like James Bond's Aston-Martin, with a sign reading "Baby and services for hire"; services are assassination. Every movie, the Yagyu hire someone to kill him. Every episode, some one hires him to kill someone. The amount of blood that spurts like a shaken bottle of soda with Pop Rocks, bloody fake body parts, and impassivity by Wakayama is formidable.
It's based a popular manga that turned into this series of movies, a television show, and a stage play. Clearly, this is someone's idea of a good time.
Anyway, in this one, Wakayama succors a woman who's been sold to a brothel and killed the merchant who also tried to rape her. He takes her place for a couple of rounds of extreme torture, then is hired by them to assassinate the local governor, while Wakayama faces a bunch of people who try to kill him, including an army of about a hundred soldiers.
It's all produced in a highly competent manner. Chikashi Makiura's camerawork is clearly modeled on the manga. It's not my idea of a good time, but if it's yours, it's well done.
It's based a popular manga that turned into this series of movies, a television show, and a stage play. Clearly, this is someone's idea of a good time.
Anyway, in this one, Wakayama succors a woman who's been sold to a brothel and killed the merchant who also tried to rape her. He takes her place for a couple of rounds of extreme torture, then is hired by them to assassinate the local governor, while Wakayama faces a bunch of people who try to kill him, including an army of about a hundred soldiers.
It's all produced in a highly competent manner. Chikashi Makiura's camerawork is clearly modeled on the manga. It's not my idea of a good time, but if it's yours, it's well done.