Member waywardsage Posted January 9, 2012 Member Share Posted January 9, 2012 I finally got the chance to check out Hideo Gosha's Samurai Wolf 2: Hellcut. The story begins with an interesting setup with Kiba running into a group of samurai transporting villains somewhere. He's hired as a temporary bodyguard after an ambush is put down with his help. The setup of the film is interesting, we get to see Kiba's background and what led to him becoming a Ronin. The movie begins to lag a lot unfortunately after this. It wanders around without a clear goal in mind. Compared to the original, this films characters aren't as interesting, so one is left wanting to know more about their motivations. The women in the story act in a completely irrational manner that makes very little sense. One minute they say they hate a character, the next moment their shrieking for their help! The cinematography is top notch as with most Gosha films. Every frame shows how Gosha was a master at building iconic and dramatic framing with his actors and the background. Gosha doesn't do fast cuts. He plans his shots for the action to unfold in front of the camera. An art that is apparently lost on today's generation of filmmakers. Even during an action scene you believe in the furious swordplay. However, when you think about it, they all play out in longer moving wide shots. Kiba was an interesting Ronin. You get the impression that Gosha was trying to setup a series a sequels that this would be just an episode in. However, he would not continue to show more tales of the wandering upbeat Ronin. The ending is pretty sudden leaving us wandering where Kiba is running off to. Overall, if your a Gosha fan, this is a must see. I'd recommend seeing the 1st Samurai Wolf, even though this film doesn't really reference it. It's a far superior film however if you haven't seen it already. It's a shame that more of Gosha's work isn't available in Region 1. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Takuma Posted January 9, 2012 Member Share Posted January 9, 2012 I remember thinking the sequel was almost on par with the original. It's been several years since I watched my dvd, though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member BlackLamaFaction Posted January 18, 2012 Member Share Posted January 18, 2012 This Gosha script was reused basically scene for scene in the Katsu produced Mute Samurai series staring Tomisaburo Wakayama. I can't recall exactly what number episode it was maybe someone else remembers. Was this released in English? I still have the WildSide French release with custom subs. I would love to get an English version. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Takuma Posted January 18, 2012 Member Share Posted January 18, 2012 Wild Side? Are you talking about Samurai Wolf? Samurai Wolf was released by HK Video in their first Gosha set... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member BlackLamaFaction Posted January 19, 2012 Member Share Posted January 19, 2012 Yes I was talking about Samurai Wolf, but i was wrong about it being a Wild Side release. I have quite a few French DVD's and all of them are either Wildside or Metropolitan i guess i got confused. Thanks for catching that mistake. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Takuma Posted January 19, 2012 Member Share Posted January 19, 2012 I wish all the Gosha films had gone to Wild Side, but Hitokiri and Goyokin aside HK Video got all the best ones. Their transfers are nowhere near as good as Wild Side Video's... On the positive side, HK Video's sets are true works of art. A few pictures below... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member BlackLamaFaction Posted January 22, 2012 Member Share Posted January 22, 2012 I agree 100% about the transfers. Goyokin and Hitokiri looked great. I recently picked up Eiichi Kudo's Samurai Revolution Triology set from Wildside, all three films look great. I was a little disappointed with HK's Bandits vs Samurai Squadron but their isn't really any other watchable version of that film so i'll take it. As far as video art, Wildside did a really good job with it's Lone Wolf and Cub set. Even the menu screens look fantastic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member OpiumKungFuCracker Posted January 22, 2012 Member Share Posted January 22, 2012 Those are some beautiful looking dvd's... Too bad I don't speak or read French, I'd buy these sets in a heartbeat.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member waywardsage Posted January 22, 2012 Author Member Share Posted January 22, 2012 I agree 100% about the transfers. Goyokin and Hitokiri looked great. I recently picked up Eiichi Kudo's Samurai Revolution Triology set from Wildside, all three films look great. I was a little disappointed with HK's Bandits vs Samurai Squadron but their isn't really any other watchable version of that film so i'll take it. As far as video art, Wildside did a really good job with it's Lone Wolf and Cub set. Even the menu screens look fantastic. Wow, Wildside's art is amazing! I'm shocked at how bad our art in the US is on our DVD cases. What I wouldn't give for a proper boxed set of Zatoichi films with their amazing art on the cover! They have so many films that haven't even been released in the US. What gives?! Do the DVD's have all french menues? Are there any english subtitles? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member BlackLamaFaction Posted January 23, 2012 Member Share Posted January 23, 2012 Wow, Wildside's art is amazing! I'm shocked at how bad our art in the US is on our DVD cases. What I wouldn't give for a proper boxed set of Zatoichi films with their amazing art on the cover! They have so many films that haven't even been released in the US. What gives?! Do the DVD's have all french menues? Are there any english subtitles? Yeah the Zatoichi situation sucks as of right now to get all the films in proper english release you have to get them from three different companies and you still cant have Zatoichi's Pilgrimage. For films 1 through 19 i actually have the japanese Daiei releases with custom subs, they are by far the best. The extras are fantastic including photos from the sets, original poster art, and lobby cards. I actually posted some photos of Katsu and his brother Tomisaburo Wakayama from the set of Chest of Gold on this forum a while back. If you can get your hands on them it's worth it. As far as the Wildside Lone Wolf series I picked up that set here in Philly where I live. Except for the superior art the video quality is about equal with the animeigo set so it's not really worth pulling your hair out trying to find . There is a guy who owns a store on 11th street (Universal Video and Electronics) if you know philadelphia. I get all my custom stuff from him, but you can find customs all over the interweb. SamuraiDVd.com, Korotokagi.com and ebay. If you don't care about owning the dvd's there are even torrents that would probably have them but I really wouldn't recommend that. Oh by the way the menu screens will not be translated they are always in French but you can figure out what is what. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member vengeanceofhumanlanterns Posted January 30, 2012 Member Share Posted January 30, 2012 Yeah the Zatoichi situation sucks as of right now to get all the films in proper english release you have to get them from three different companies and you still cant have Zatoichi's Pilgrimage. For films 1 through 19 i actually have the japanese Daiei releases with custom subs, they are by far the best. The extras are fantastic including photos from the sets, original poster art, and lobby cards. I actually posted some photos of Katsu and his brother Tomisaburo Wakayama from the set of Chest of Gold on this forum a while back. If you can get your hands on them it's worth it. As far as the Wildside Lone Wolf series I picked up that set here in Philly where I live. Except for the superior art the video quality is about equal with the animeigo set so it's not really worth pulling your hair out trying to find . There is a guy who owns a store on 11th street (Universal Video and Electronics) if you know philadelphia. I get all my custom stuff from him, but you can find customs all over the interweb. SamuraiDVd.com, Korotokagi.com and ebay. If you don't care about owning the dvd's there are even torrents that would probably have them but I really wouldn't recommend that. Oh by the way the menu screens will not be translated they are always in French but you can figure out what is what. BLF, where'd you get the Daiei releases of Zatoichi? I'm interested in the custom subs. My only problem with Home Vision and Criterion's releases for example are the translations. They're so generic. The previous VHS releases had a lot more character. I heard somewhere these newer translations were electronically translated? I don't know, but it does seem they're so general that they may be. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member BlackLamaFaction Posted February 1, 2012 Member Share Posted February 1, 2012 BLF, where'd you get the Daiei releases of Zatoichi? I'm interested in the custom subs. My only problem with Home Vision and Criterion's releases for example are the translations. They're so generic. The previous VHS releases had a lot more character. I heard somewhere these newer translations were electronically translated? I don't know, but it does seem they're so general that they may be. Hey Vengeance, I purchased the set locally where I live. The only problem is that I know for a fact that the subs were taken from the Region 1 HVE releases, except for Zatoichi's Pilgrimage I don't know where the subs for that came from. So you are unfortunately not going to get better subs or translations. I know what you mean about the subs though. If your still interested I can PM you the name of the place I got them from. They are not official but the quality is outstanding. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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