Jefferson N. from BLAIRSVILLE, GA
Reviewed on 10/18/2011...
Legend of the 8 Samurai is one of those Sonny Chiba movies he made during the 80's when he was passed his heyday and gave most of the martial arts work to his students. Nonetheless, this one is pretty entertaining. An evil witch is trying to cement her power base by destroying a beautiful young princess. The princess, while fleeing the witch's wrath, runs into a sleazy ronin, who she begins to fall for. They must seek out eight warriors with special crystals and destroy the witch once and for all if they want peace. The movie isn't overly long, which has that going for it. The action scenes are a little campy...they look more like the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers than The Streetfighter. And the music is horrible! But the story is actually a little different than usual...for instance, they have to team with blood enemies to get to the witch, which makes things a little more interesting. And it has the lovely Sue Shihomi, which always makes for good viewing. And her battle with her nemesis is one of the best in the film. If you're a Chiba fan, or a fan of silly Japanese action shows, you'll probably like this.