KINGDOM: RETURN OF THE GREAT GENERAL Review: Shinsuke Sato’s Latest Rages On In An Extant Tale Of High Drama And Heroic Bloodshed

Kingdom: Return Of The Great General is now streaming on Netflix in the U.S.

Imaginably, if the rest of us outside of Japan got to see Shinsuke Sato’s Kingdom: Return Of The Great General, the film would have easily listed for many of us somewhere in our top favorite action titles of 2024. Interest be damned, however, the obligatory window still applies for titles like these, and now the film is finally streaming on Netflix as of Wednesday.

Sato’s continued adaptation of Yasuhisa Hara’s celebrated manga-cum-anime fave re-establishes the cast of the franchise thusfar, led by Kento Yamazaki, Ryo Yoshizawa, Kanna Hashimoto, and Takao Osawa, as well as Nana Seino. Additionally, the film also brings back actors Koji Kikkawa and Oguri Shun whose characters are introduced in the outro sequences of the previous chapter, Kingdom: The Flame Of Destiny.

As Ohki (Osawa) prepares to lead the Qin army into its next battle with the Zhao armies led by Choso (Koji Yamamoto) and Mangoku (Yoji Yamada), Shin (Yamazaki), and the Hishin unit are ambushed campside by the feared “war god” himself, Houken (Kikkawa). The battle forces Shin and the rest of the outfit into hiding as Houken proves to be an indelible force to be reckoned with, having spent years of training and only increasing his power, and subsequently becoming the Commander-in-Chief of the Zhao army.

As the Hishin unit struggles to regain its footing ahead of its next looming battle, Kingdom: Return Of The Great General recounts the antecedant events surrounding the burgeoning romance between Ohki and wartime wunderkind commander, Kyo (Yuko Araki), and the terrible incident preambling the imminent climatic scrimmage that now summons Ohki back to the battlefield in full form. With Ohki and Houken busy settling their bloodfeud, it’s only a matter of time before the true nature of the battle is fully realized.

That’s where the real crux of the fighting in Kingdom: Return Of The Great General comes full circle, with all the characters thusfar in play, and all the cards seemingly dealt. Sato’s direction has kept the franchise well in tact in-between all the exposition and cadential development, and that pattern continues aptly with the fourth installment. By now, it’s easy to accept some of the more quieter moments that bring about the occasional respite peace as the drama unfolds, allowing space for the characters to develop further in a saga like this one with near-endless fighting in the backdrop.

Yamazaki continues to be in top form as the warrior, Shin, rightly in his element, as well as the phenomenal Seino as warrior priestess and Shin’s vice-commander, Kyokai. The film’s extensive recap is followed by the first action scene where we get to see a little more of Houken and what he’s made of. It’s one of the saga’s fiercest battles, setting the stakes high without taking the wind out of our sails too soon. If you missed Kyokai’s chanting from Kingdom: Far And Away, and wanted to see more, believe that Seino here has you covered.

The same goes for Osawa whose coming-out party in Kingdom: Return Of The Great General has been hotly-anticipated since the first film where we saw Ohki clear the steps of the Qin palace. Here, Ohki and Houken clash in a bevy of horseback jousts with their weapons in a sequences that toggles with flashbacks voiced by the role of Shobunkun (Masahiro Takshima) as he urgently consults King Eisei (Yoshizawa) about the longstanding history between Ohki and Houken. I didn’t mind the flashbacks here much considering the length of the film and how substantive it was to learn more about these characters, and soon enough, viewers’ patience is rewarded with the franchise’s most titanic, Herculean battle yet.

The fight between Ohki and Houken is intense and ever-evolving, with two warlords battling using weapons that were typically heavy to manipulate and taking more than just sheer will to manage. The action is simply explosive to watch, featured with stunning cinematography and editing, and a joyous reminder of exactly why we don’t forget the name of action director Yuji Shimomura, going into the new year.

Perhaps the most discernible character of the saga, collectively, is the score from composer Yutaka Yamada. His music breathes life into every captulating moment, and sustains just the energy the film needs from its most up-lifting moments, to the darker and tragic ones. Shun’s Riboku hardly has to lift a finger here to make you see the menace that he really is, particularly in a revelatory moment for aspiring strategist Karyoten (Kashimoto), and Riboku’s assistant strategist, Kaine (Yui Sakuma). Par for the course is the brief appearance Western Mountain tribal leader, Youtanwa (Masami Nagasawa), to coincide with the urgency surrounding Riboku’s true role in this particular chapter.

There’s a sustenance here that remains tantamount to achieving what Sato does with this franchise. It culminates a winning formula for Sato and production house CREDEUS that makes the Kingdom movies a winning product for fans who have been following this incredible story since Yamazaki birthed it heretofore in an anniversarial fan short from director Hiroki Ohno. Nothing has been said officially yet about a fifth film, but I’m confident that we will see more of this story unfold in due time. As you might ascertain from this review, I’m totally here for it.