{"id":153,"date":"2008-06-01T21:19:46","date_gmt":"2008-06-01T21:19:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blackbeltmama.net\/bbmreview\/2008\/06\/01\/american-samura\/"},"modified":"2008-06-01T21:19:46","modified_gmt":"2008-06-01T21:19:46","slug":"american-samura","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blackbeltmama.com\/bbmreview\/2008\/06\/01\/american-samura\/","title":{"rendered":"American Samurai"},"content":{"rendered":"

This movie was bought for me as a gift.  I really appreciated the sentiment – the gift giver knew I liked Samurai and Period-Piece movies, and this one had "Samurai" written right in the title.  <\/p>\n

I appreciated the thought…but that’s essentially where the good feelings end.<\/p>\n

\"Americansamurai\"<\/a>\n<\/p>\n

This movie is pretty terrible…but you probably guessed that with a name like "American Samurai," right?  Created in 1992, American Samurai<\/em> arrived on the heels of a large ninja craze.  But when ninjas were being phased out after their 80s boom, there was a need for other crappy martial arts inspired movies.  Hence American Samurai.  <\/em><\/p>\n

To fill you in quickly on the plot – two half brothers are raised by a kenjutsu (sword) master.   Their  family sword gets stolen and this causes a rift in the family, forcing the brothers to go separate ways.  Eventually they meet back up in an underground turkish fighting ring.  Combat ensues tournament style.<\/p>\n

Flashback a few years to 1988 when Bloodsport<\/em> hit the scenes.  Initially it had a lukewarm reception, but has grown into a cult classic.  I personally love that movie, even with all of its bad acting and thin plot.  Bloodsport is one of those rare movies that is bad…yet so good.  American Samurai<\/em> seemed to notice this unusual achievement and thought "hey, we can do that!  Let’s throw some swords into it and we’ve struck gold!"<\/p>\n

I suppose we have to give them a little credit for trying, but they fell short of the mark.  The acting is unpleasant and the story is like a thinner version of Bloodsport<\/em>.  It feels like they gathered up as many martial art cliches (the outsider prodigy, the feuding brothers, the underground tournament…etc etc) and mixed them all up into script soup.<\/p>\n

I did try to keep an open mind and recognize the movie for its decent qualities.  The actual combat is choreographed well.  I was expecting some pretty rough stuff, but was pleasantly surprised.  You get to see a variety of weapons spun around, which is always fun.<\/p>\n

Overall, I would say pass on this movie.  There are many intolerable martial arts movies out there and this one does a good enough job with the action to stay out of the dregs.  But between the completely unoriginal plot, the not-so-awesome acting, and the overall insulting nature to historical Samurai and Budo…<\/p>\n

Ikigai108 gives this movie –<\/p>\n

\"Yellowbelt_3\"<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This movie was bought for me as a gift.  I really appreciated the sentiment – the gift giver knew I liked Samurai and Period-Piece movies, and this one had "Samurai" written right in the title.  I appreciated the thought…but that’s essentially where the good feelings end. This movie is pretty terrible…but you probably guessed that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34,24],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-153","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-dvd","category-martial-arts"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t