Audience Member
Un titre débile, typique du je-m'en-foutisme rampant qui sévissait alors autour des productions asiatiques, un B.O. stridente qui rappellera des souvenirs émus aux fans de sentaï et ces inimitables doublages d'époque, qui donnaient l'impression d'être en train de regarder le club Dorothée, même dans les moments les plus dramatiques : le moins qu'on puisse dire, c'est que « Les guerriers de l'apocalypse » ne peuvent plus décemment s'adresser, aujourd'hui, qu'à un certain type de public, celui pour qui ces tares se muent inexplicablement en qualités. Pour autant, il ne faudrait pas charger la choses de tous les maux : en se remettant dans le contexte de l'époque, « Les guerriers de l'apocalypse » n'est pas plus un nanard que ne l'était « Nimitz, retour vers l'enfer » sorti à la même époque. De toute façon, les Blockbuster des années 80 ont tous, presque sans exceptions, pris un méchant coup de vieux et l'industrie cinématographique nippone n'a jamais été réputée pour sa prodigalité envers ses propres productions . Pour ne rien arranger, l'armée japonaise, froissée de l'image que le film renvoyait de ses membres, refusa de se prêter au jeu et le réalisateur dut revoir sérieusement à la baisse (autrement dit, avec un seul tank et un seul hélico) l'ampleur des batailles rangées prévues au programme de ce spectacle régressif. Inutile de creuser en profondeur les motivations des différents protagonistes : on n'a pas affaire au « Ran » de Kurosawa et la seule métaphore qu'on puisse tirer des « Guerriers de l'apocalypse » est que les Forces d'autodéfense nippones méritent mieux que de stationner sur une plage en attente d'une hypothétique invasion communiste. Avant toute autre chose, le réalisateur semble s'être fait plaisir avec ce trip belliqueux et ludique, qui voit des militaires foncer en char d'assaut au milieu de myriades de petits bonshommes-bannière, les flèches répondre aux rafales d'AK-47 et des samouraï-acrobates s'infiltrer à bord d'un hélicoptère en vol. A condition d'avoir conservé cet état d'esprit qui permet d'inventer d'innombrables histoires avec de petits soldats, il n'est pas difficile de se prendre au jeu... !
Rated 2.5/5 Stars •
Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars
02/05/23
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Audience Member
This movie goes nowhere from start to finish with its boring plot of Japanese soldiers traveling through time somehow, bad writing, horrible action scenes and awful camera work. Skip this movie if u get the chance. 1/10
Rated 0.5/5 Stars •
Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars
02/06/23
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Audience Member
Quite simply the best concept for a movie ever, except it has no zombies. If this film had zombies it would have won all the oscars in 1979 and all of them since then too.
Rated 4.5/5 Stars •
Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars
02/09/23
Full Review
Audience Member
[url="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/bullet_train/dvd.php?select=1"][img]http://images.rottentomatoes.com/images/movie/coverv/89/193089.jpg[/img][/url][img]http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B0002ZYE0K.01._SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg[/img][url="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/kowloon_assignment/dvd.php?select=5"][img]http://images.rottentomatoes.com/images/movie/coverv/46/226246.jpg[/img][/url]
More Chiba than anyone could possibly need, and that's the beauty of this box set.
I started off with Bullet Train. See if this sounds familiar. Train runs at 120 km/h. If it slows down below 70, it blows up. That's right, they did the same thing with a bus in Speed. Here, it's less about the heroics of the lead characters than it is about police procedure - methodically trying to beat the bomb-planter in a race against a speeding train before it runs out of track.
And the passengers - the stakes are high - there's 1,500 people on this thing. And once they get wind of what's going on with the train and why it isn't stopping - hysteria! And there's nobody that does hysteria quite like Japanese people.
And another thing - for a movie in a Sonny Chiba box set, there isn't much Chiba in this. He is the train driver, but doesn't have much to do except sit there and take orders from the guys in the train center. He does have his moment, though, when it comes time to cut a hole in the floor of the train to get at the bomb.
The real star is Ken Takakura (Japan's "Clint Eastwood) as the bomb-plot's mastermind. The story really gets into his character and why he's doing what he's doing.
Next up was Golgo 13: Kowloon Assignment. This is crazy exploitive action fare, based on a manga. So it's very cartoonish. Chiba plays the world's No 1 assassin, who can make any shot, no matter how far-fetched.
The thing that's infuriating about this disc is that it was an international production, and skips across the globe, from Miami, to Tokyo to Hong Kong and Macao, yet there's only the Japanese soundtrack, when there are times when it's clear that ain't the language that's being spoken.
Otherwise, on all these releases by Optimum, the picture and sound are clean and clear. Flawless, really.
Last up is the best of the box: GI Samurai. It's a mixture of Twilight Zone, Apocalypse Now, Return of the Jedi and any number of samurai epics.
Chiba is a lieutenant in charge of some Japanese Defense Force reserve troops out for a weekend drill. Suddenly, they notice their watches have all stopped at 5.18. And Venus isn't where she should be. And then things get all supersaturated and weird. And they notice that something's different when some guys in 16th century armour come up on horses.
They look out of place with their US-issued fatigues and steel-pot helmets. But the machine guns (including a mounted 50 caliber on a half-track), a tank, a helicopter, a patrol boat, a jeep and troop truck have their advantages.
Chiba finds that he and his men are caught in a feudal war and aren't sure whose side to take. And should they mess in their affairs of the past? What if they kill one of their ancestors?
The men in Chiba's command start to break away. Some guys go into the forest, and find some ninjas swooping down at them out of the trains.
Some other guys mutiny and take the patrol boat and go tear-assing around fuedal Japan, looking for the shit, stealing food, raiding villages - raping and pillaging.
Chiba has to put a stop to that the only way he knows how - by dangling from a rope below the helicopter.
Eventually, he decides to chance it. He throws in with the more courageous and charismatic of the feudal leaders and gears up for battle.
At first, it seems Chiba and his men, with all their technology, have the edge. But they are facing more men than they imagined, and soon they are overwhelmed. Logs are rolling down cliffs, traps are laid for the vehicles and so on. Some Ewok-style guerrilla tactics make it rough on the modern-day warriors.
I'd give GI Samurai a 10 if it weren't for the weird pop soundtrack that is very incongruous to the goings on, on the screen. Like the happy song when the guys on the boat are raping the women, and so on.
Rated 4.5/5 Stars •
Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars
02/01/23
Full Review
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