A nicely played and well-directed swordplay film – but haven’t we seen it all before?
Wuxia films have a tough job to do nowadays. Many of us grew up on the swordplay fantasy films of the 80s and 90s, the films of Tsai Hark and Ching Siu-tung, some on the even earlier films by King Hu and Zhang Che. And of course we all know Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. Some directors have been able to cut new ground, like Zhang Yimou and Chen Kaige on films like House Of Flying Daggers and The Promise respectively.
Sadly, though Shinobi is an enjoyable and well-produced movie, there really isn’t anything new about it. If anything, it’s rather proudly old fashioned.
For centuries two hidden tribes of Shinobi have battled each other, honing their otherworldly abilities beyond anything imaginable by man, but the Lord of the provence has decreed a truce between them. In this uneasy peace, Oboro (Yukie Nakama, Ring Ø: Birthday) from the Iga tribe and Gennosuke (Joe Odagiri, Azumi, Blood and Bones) from the Kouga tribe meet and fall in love.
That peace is soon shattered when Lord Tokugawa Ieyasu (Kazuo Kitamura, Kwaidan) decides that the tribes’ power is too dangerous to be left unaffiliated to any government, and remits truce in a plan to annihilate them completely. The five best warriors from each tribe are picked to fight each other to the death to win the prize of becoming Shogun, and worse still Oboro and Gennosuke are chosen as their leaders.
But driven by his love for Oboro, Gennosuke decides instead to take his group to the Lord himself, and uncover the truth of the confrontation. But can he convince either side of the futile nature of their combat? Meanwhile Gennosuke has played directly into the Lord’s hands, as his armies gather outside the tribes’ villages with orders to destroy them completely.
Despite a small body of work, Ten Shimoyama has already proved himself as adept director in many different genres of film, including the J-horror of St. John’s Wort. Shinobi is again a high quality production, with top-notch CGI effects that don’t necessarily get in the way of the storytelling. Indeed, the action is well filmed with some of the characters abilities and weapons initiating some neat set pieces – like Yashamaru’s woven wires or Yakushiji Tenzen’s duel chakrams.
However, this interest in quirky weapons underlines several similarities with Tsai Hark’s Seven Swords, including the fate of the village central to the story. Of course, Futaro Yamada’s original novel The Kouga Ninja Scrolls had been filmed many times before over the last 25 years, it was just unfortunate that Hark’s film was released just a couple of months before.
The characters are announced on screen, in a manner reminiscent of Shaw Brothers movies of the 70s and 80s, such as the adaptations of Gu Long’s novels. Indeed, as with those films, there’s a necessity to impart a lot of information, and that the audience recognise the characters that are being played – as was the case in those Shaw Brothers films.
True, purists may deride the simplification of the original story, even knocking down the number from 10 to five warriors from each clan, but you can’t fault it’s succinctness, bringing the tale easily within 100 minutes. Even if most of the back stories behind the warriors and the villages history is lost in the process, such as the fated romance between the tribes original aging leaders, Ogen and Koga Danjo – all but hinted at in the film.
What the film lacks, and this may well be a fault of the original source material, is a convincing romance between our leads, the crux of this star-crossed tale. It’s a fault in Kenya Hirata’s (Returner) script, but compounded by two leads who perform well but just don’t spark believably on screen. It undermines what should have been some of the most heartrending moments of the film. The films end theme, Heaven by Ayumi Hamasaki, a number one in Japan, may not win you over (unless you’re a big fan of J-Pop?). Even the frankly camp Ashura managed to summon up a bit more feeling.
Ultimately, Shinobi is an enjoyable wuxia film, but does seem something of a hollow exercise.
DVD details
Distributor: Optimum Asia (UK)
Excellent transfer with a wealth of extras make this single-disc edition a more than worthy competitor to the 2-disc US DVD. Extras include Visual FX of Shinobi Featurette, Visual FX explanation Featurette, Weapons of Shinobi Featurette, Set Design & Construction Featurette, Storyboards, Original Trailers, Character Gallery and a Stills Gallery.
