WTF Japan?!?: Reborn from Hell 2- Jubei's Revenge

...and I feel fine!  With the second film here, let's throw in a quick summary for all you newbies.  By the way, kudos for reading the review of the second film and not the first...tool.
* An evil wizard did an evil thing- he resurrected some dead Japanese folks in a plot to destroy the world.
* Only Jubei- an idealized and partially-fictitious warrior- can save the day.
* He took out a bunch of warriors, including the famous fight Musashi Miyamoto.
* With the wizard still on the loose, our hero only has a few years to avert the disaster.
With all of that silly exposition out of the way, let's officially wrap this sucker of a series up with...

The demons are still scheming.  They aren't doing a lot, but they are scheming.  Keep it up, guys.  Meanwhile, Jubei is continuing to scheme as well.  He has a meeting with one of the men, but they know that he's on to them and he knows what they're up to.  It's a bit confusing, but don't focus on that.  Jubei fights ninjas!  Yeah, he did that in the last movie too, but...he does it here and they show more blood.  Seriously, there is a lot of blood in this movie!

The big battle standing between Jubei and stopping Armageddon is a very personal one.  You see, his father is jealous of him and wishes that he could have his youth back to prove his superiority.  Not surprisingly, the evil wizard Shosetsu Yui is happy to oblige!  The guy grants the old man's wish, leading to the man turning on everyone he's known and loved.  Clearly you were kind of a dick before you became a demon!  Hell, you stabbed your own son's eye out when he looked away from you in combat for a split-second!  The battle is finally waged between father and son.  Who will emerge victorious?  Whose form will reign supreme?  Yeah, it's Jubei.  If you were shocked by this, you have not been reading this review so far!

The Armageddon draws near!  Jubei rushes to stop the demon wizard and his companions.  With only a few of them left, he has to battle quickly.  Fortunately, he has the power of overly-idealized kung-fu and Editing on his side!  He faces off with the vain, female member of the group.  They prepare to duel as a smoke grenade (of sorts) goes on.  After about ten seconds, we see that Jubei is gone.  Not only that, but he's stripped the lady, tied her up and cut off her head!  Are you The Flash?!?  The villain's whole plot involves killing a person, using a naked lady as a vessel (hello, random and superfluous nudity) and resurrecting the guy.  The final step is doing this to one last guy, making him the 9th person to have this done to.  They manage to do it...for about three seconds as Jubei appears, grabs the guy and kills him.  That was anti-climactic.  He has one final battle with the Wizard and the remaining Demon, but he wins that too.  The End.

That sure was a lot of build-up, wasn't it?  The plot of this second-half of the movie is not bad.  There's really not a lot more to say about this one than there was the other one though.  The whole thing just feels, well, odd.  That is what happens when you mix the bizarre stuff with demonic resurrection, ancient Japanese characters and fictional character aspects.  That said, you can have a lot of fun with this bizarre, pulpy tale.  The DVD version for the United States even has a silly recap segment where some poor V.O. guy has to say about 30 complicated, Japanese names very quickly.  He was not paid enough.  This one ups the violence and gore, which is certainly an improvement over the original.  At the same time, however, the original film has the Jubei/Musashi fight in it.  Overall, the films work best when seen together.  As separate films, they don't do do as well.  The second film is stronger on its own- thanks to the Intro- but the original has its moments too.  If you haven't seen it, check it out.  There's always a 1981 version (starring Sonny Chiba), but make sure that you get the longer version.  One is 88 minutes, while the other is 122!  Oh yeah, the 2003 version is pretty good too.  Take us away, inexplicably fast (and dirty) Jubei...

* Super-speed stripping power- activate!* 

Next up, a really ridiculous film by the man behind Ghoulies.  If you think that you've seen the worst CGI imaginable, just wait!  Stay tuned...
     

WTF Japan?!?: Reborn from Hell- Samurai Armageddon

The attack of Japanese fan-fiction!  If there's one story that has been done a million times, it's this one!  'Makai Tensho' is a 1967 novel that is essentially fan-fiction...just with Japanese history.  The plot is simple- a dead wizard comes back and resurrects a bunch of dead samurai.  His plan- to create an Armageddon.  Actually, it doesn't sound that simple, does it?  Regardless of that, the story has been adapted into film about six times now!  It all begin in 1981 and has continued through 2003, with more coming on the way I'm sure.  It even made it into the plot of Ninja Resurrection, an anime series that was only partially-completed and released as a mess of a film itself!  This is the 1996 version, which is the most pulp-like and gory, so let's cover that.  Plus, it has hilariously-over-the-top narration.  Thanks, American DVD release!  If you want to see a one-eyed samurai kick lots of ass, check out...

An evil wizard named Shosetsu Yui is back from the dead.  He's pissed about the Japanese government killing him, so he's going to end the world.  Yeah, that's a logical conclusion to reach.  To that end, he begins to resurrect some ancient samurai warriors and other famous people.  He tempts them all with what they wanted in life, but could never get.  For example, one of them is a female royal figure who feared growing old and gray, so she sold her soul to be immortal and ageless.  They kind of cheat a bit, as one of the guys is actually alive when they recruit him.  They kill him and then recruit him...which hardly seems fair.  During all of this, our hero- Jubei- doesn't seem to be aware of all that much.  He even has time to hang out with his dad, who seems to hold a grudge against him for no good reason.

Finally, our hero figures out that there is some crazy shit going on.  He gets involved in a romantic sub-plot another woman, but that's pretty forgettable.  What you need to know is this- Jubei fights ninjas!  He fights a ton of them, in fact, leading to the film's first real use of some real gore.  The blood spray is strong and random here, folks!  Now set on his path, Jubei faces off with a number of the turned warriors.  The first real one is the lecherous monk who was converted after his murder.  He goes down, but only after getting his limbs cut off Black Knight-style.  That's a bit silly, right?  One of them goes down pretty quick, but does manage to give a nice little monologue as a disembodied head.  That's real talent!

Aside from the numerous little character moments and sub-plots, this movie is really about one thing.  That thing is Jubei vs. Musashi Miyamoto!  Yes, you can say the name in either direction, so save me any comments about it.  On one hand, you have a famous samurai who may or may not have done much.  On the other hand, you have...well, either of them, really.  This is a battle for the ages and it takes place on the greatest stage of them all- a beach.  The two men fight...and it's over in about three minutes.  Yeah, this movie is great for build-up, but not so much for execution.  Speaking of which, the movie ends with many threads left open and the wizard's threat that the Armageddon will come...in a few years.  The End...for now.

It's the end of the world as we know it!  The plot of this movie is good, but kind of wonky.  It mixes real people- like Musashi- with fantasy- wizards and demons- and fantasized characters- Jubei.  No offense to the real Jubei, but there is no evidence of you do most of this and/or ever even having an eye patch!  The whole film is just a set-up to the second film really.  There are good moments here, but it feels like it's just dragging its feet for a lot of it.  I did like the movie and I would easily recommend it to people looking for a very different kind of bloody, samurai epic.  However, it is an incomplete story and I wish that they could have made the movie feel more whole.  Another Japanese film- Death Note- actually gave you a good ending, if it didn't actually resolve the plot.  It felt conclusive enough for someone who would never go and watch the second one.  This film- not so much.  Then again, there is a 2-Movie DVD available out there that solves this problem...

Next up, the final part of the two-part film is here.  Will the world end or will Jubei continue to kill everyone in 30 seconds?  Stay tuned...