This film essentially picks up where its predecessor "Lone Wolf and Cub-Sword of Vengeance" left off with the most skilled swordsman in Japan "Ogami Itto" (Tomisaburo Wakayama) and his young son "Daigoro Ogami" (Akihiro Tomikawa) being pursued by trained assassins from the Yaegu clan who are determined to have the former Shogunate Executioner killed in order to consolidate their power. Yet no matter who they send, none of them are nearly as capable as he is and they all meet their fate in one violent and ghastly manner after the other. On an unrelated note, because he is no longer employed, Ogami still has to make ends meet and as a result he hires himself out as an assassin to those capable of paying for his extraordinary talents. To that effect, he is subsequently hired to kill a man who is in the process of betraying his clan by selling an important industrial secret to, as it so happens, the same man who has put out a contract on Ogami's life. Making matters even more difficult for Ogami, however, is the fact that this particular man is being escorted by 3 top-notch assassins known as the Hidari Brothers who each possess a unique weapon that they use to dispatch their intended targets. To make matters even more complicated, an extremely talented female ninja named "Sayaka Yagyu" (Kayo Matsuo) has also been contacted with orders to send her trained female assassins to kill Ogami as well--and just like the Hidari Brothers, she has never failed either. Now, rather than reveal any more, I will just say that, even though it was basically a sequel to the first film of the series, it stilled managed to rise to the same level of entertainment. One big difference, however, is that the director (Kenji Misumi) managed to inject a little humor into some of the action scenes by utilizing the special qualities of the young boy to good advantage. A really cute touch. Be that as it may, I enjoyed this film just as much as the first one and I have rated it accordingly. Above average.
