This is the fourth film in the Lone Wolf & Cub Series – otherwise known for the US release – Shogun Assassin. Baby Cart in Peril focuses around a deadly female Assassin who has a habit of flashing her nicely tattooed boobs at her enemy, distracting them before making her kill.
The Lone wolf, Ogami Itto, is then hired to kill this boob flashing assassin named Oyuki.
We start off the movie as Ogami is being hired for the job, meanwhile Daigoro gets bored and goes for a wonder. After getting lost, he wonders about while his father searches for him. Meanwhile Daigoro runs into a skilled swordman Gunbei.
Gunbei sees the stony eyes of the child, describing them as being those of a warrior who has seen in battle and death. With great curiosity he follows Daigoro and watches as he intelligently saves himself from being burned alive in a fire.
Shortly after Ogami finds Daigoro and Gunbei and we learn of their past. It seems Ogami won a sword fight against Gunbei due to a technicality, and was awarded his position as the Shogun’s Executioner many years ago.
The technicality was caused when Ogami was disarmed and Gunbei pointed his sword at the Shogun – a taboo movement. With Ogami standing between both the Shogun and Gunbei, it was seen officially that Ogami was protecting the Shogun from Gunbei and was awarded the position.
After falling out with the Yagyu Clan, who was trying to secure a handful of powerful positions under the Shogun, Gunbei swears vengeance on Ogami. So the two fight and Gunbei loses after having his arm chopped off, but instead of finishing him off, Ogami leaves him to live. This sets up a future rivalry between both men.
After this small preliminary tale, Ogami sets off and finds Oyuki – the Tattooed female assassin he is commissioned to kill.
Oyuki – An Interesting Character
Oyuki is a very deadly assassin in this movie, and a nice chunk is dedicated to describing and exploring her motives, which is something I found interesting.
With her tattoos (the particular method of getting them) being severely painful to receive, we learn that she doesn’t even weep when having them done. This sets you up to understand just how tough and different she is from the normal Japanese woman. She then kills and removes the top knot from the Samurais she defeats, a way of disgracing them and a great insult.
With her distinctly tough persona and unique appearance (tattoos, etc), Oyuki is a stand out character in the movie and definitely leaves you intrigued. When Ogami speaks to her we learn a bit more of her falling out which is also interesting.
Of course, I think the boobie flashing is more of a crowd pleaser than anything, and most people wouldn’t compain (not me anyway)! It all adds to the uniqueness of her character.
(spoiler) Her death also shows her human side as she thanks Ogami for killing her without her having to remove her top (women right? ). This demonstrates a certain level of reluctance and gives her a bit more depth. As a character her story is told well, but I think her potential was definitely not reached.
As the movie is kind of split into two separate stories (with Gunbei’s back story revealing a bit of history of Ogami), they could have really made something of the Oyuki character and her kills.
Ultimately though the movie keeps a good balance and delivers plenty of top notch action!
The Action & Martial Arts
This is one of the more action packed Lone Wolf and Cub movies yet!
Around every corner is a new enemy for Ogami, leading right up to the final battle between a large group of men and himself. The action relies a little more on physical sword movements and less on ridiculous gore than the other films (although it still takes up a nice chunk!), and is a nice difference to see.
The level of sword work is upgraded and we see some good trades between all of Ogami’s enemies and himself, and we also get to see a more vulnerable side to Ogami as he cops a bit of flogging in some parts.
Overall it’s a step up in the Lone Wolf and Cub franchise with a good story and plenty of excellent action sequences.
On DVD –
Region 1 (US & Canada)
Lone Wolf and Cub – Baby Cart in Peril
