If there’s one thing worth pointing out about Haruki Kadokawa in its heyday, they produced some pretty epic pictures. This extends to 1979’s G.I. Samurai, itself based on Ryo Hanmura’s novel, and with a cast led by actor Sonny Chiba – at this point a staple in Japanese martial arts cinema with his appearances in the Street Fighter, Sister Street Fighter and Karate Bullfighter franchises among his credits.
Chiba plays Lieutenant Iba of the 54th General Regiment who finds himself leading his most deadly mission yet when he, and several other land, sea and air units assemble before stumbling into a portal that sends them 400 years into the past. Trapped in the Warring States Period, Iba, his men and the other soldiers are forced to survive between warring sides, with Kagetora (Natsuyagi Isao, star of the Samurai Wolf movies) seeming more amiable than his enemies to befriend the new arrivals from the future.
As it stands though, Iba has a few other concerns on his plate as a result of the temporal mishap, one being an act of mutiny by one of his own men, Yano (Tsunehiko Watase), and the prospect of pursuing shared leadership of the nation with Kagetora while some of his men seek their own Sengoku-era respite or resolve to somehow return home. The story erupts in an explosive battle with Kagetora’s enemy, Shingen (Tadashi Yamashita), in a third-act catclysm that unravels with Iba forced to confront the very real and almost farcical nature of war and politics.
Chiba lends a formidable starring role in G.I. Samurai in the role of Iba, a character whose true nature slowly surfaces throughout this 140-minute endeavor. Iba’s burgeoning friendship with Kagetora is one of the more standout developments of the film, illustrating a unique friendship and ebullience that typically serves to foreshadow something more grim in the process. Other developments include one soldier’s adherence to a small family whose children see a new big brother, and another soldier who gets followed by a mute villager in their journey to battle Shingen.
Directed by Kosei Saito, G.I. Samurai is certainly one of the more ambitious adventures of its time, and from a studio home to directors who became provenly bold in their approach in terms of style and vision. Reasonably, with Hollywood upping the ante with the likes of Star Wars, you can appreciate Japan’s own coming out of the woodwork with its own hybridized work, one that ostensibly blends sci-fi lore with brutal, unflinching war allegory for a film that still leaves something worth writing home about, and I also love what the film’s score has to offer – most prominently with the vocal stylings of Joe Yamanaka (Proof Of The Man).
The biggest and most obvious factor in that parable is the distinction between Iba’s heavy artillery and modern technology, all of which bode impressive if not discernibly frightening to those baring witness. Of course, the film brilliantly puts its theoretical comparisons of weapons and tactics to the test, contributing to Saito’s sweeping poetry on occupational practices of war and history, and serving as a profound preamble to the film’s climatic finish.
Via the latest Arrow Video home release of G.I. Samurai on Blu-Ray, commentators Tom Mes and Samm Deighan weigh in on G.I. Samurai with an astute look at the production, including the ways in which the film carries its deeper thematic and poetic expressions, in conjunction to the more prevalent historical and film genre contexts. I listened to some of the commentary before moving on to some of the extras, and this disc is loaded with extras, mostly archived though, and you also get a presentation of the film’s uncut English version with its original import title treatment, “Time Slip”.
The more fresher cuts are featured with appreciation interludes by Mark Schilling in “The Good Fight”, Matt Alt in “Acting In Self Defense,” and a two-hander with Masaaki Nomura and Tatsuya Masuto in “Back In Time,” all recorded last year in time for Arrow’s release. The disc additionally features archived interviews from 2005 with Chiba and Isao, along with Hiromitsu Suzuki, Kamayatsu Monsieur, Jun Eto and Isao Kuraishi, as well as an extended trailer file, and a slideshow.
That all rounds up the extras to well over two and a half hours of extras all incumbent with the disc, and the packaging also includes a booklet which I didn’t get for my checkdisc review. At any rate, this is all to say that it’ll be worth the asking price for a Blu-Ray copy of G.I. Samurai if you’re fascinated by Japan cinema, or Chiba or Isao for that matter. It’s a great item to collect and you can find it over at mvdshop.com.
