Director: Josh C. Waller
Year: 2026
Country: Japan/Indonesia/USA
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Action/Period
Plot:
After a devastating accident, a violent and reckless samurai is shipwrecked on a remote island without an avenue for his rage. After undertaking a spiritual journey to appease his aggressive thoughts, he finds himself abducted by external demons taking the form of cannibals, putting his sense of reality and deadly talents to the test to save himself from this deadly fate.
Review:
Overall, this was an intriguing enough idea in general. The central concept, attempting to look at the existential dread of a former warrior tormented by his past and longing for a sense of freedom and peace with his wife and family, but unable to do anything about it, by being stuck on the island, sets this up to be a rather engaging idea. His meager existence on the island, initially thought to be deserted, offers a passive and contemplative idea that perhaps the way out is to kill himself honorably, which offers a strong emotional hook to get this going. With the general sense of silence in the film, the stoic state in his presentation, and the overall stakes featured in the fantasy of his life back home, this first half offers up the kind of depth rarely seen in this kind of feature. It can come off as a bit long-winded and repetitive, featuring his memories and recollections about his family while sitting around meditating or staring at a fire several times over, making it feel longer than it really is.
When it comes to dealing with the action, this one has a lot to like. With the discovery of the cannibal tribe existing on the island and the need for defense becoming an issue, there’s plenty of fun to start by learning about their savagery and cruelty, which enables the discovery of their cannibalistic tendencies. By the time it starts to delve into more traditional weaponry as he tries to stave off the encroaching horde for his own safety, the one-man-army style setpieces involving him using stealth and various advanced defensive tactics to protect himself leaves this with some strong setpieces throughout here with him tracking the group down through the jungle or attacking them from such a distance as to make them wary of the demonic influence that could potentially be hunting them. It all culminates in a spectacular, elongated battle on the beach that serves to get plenty of action and excitement throughout here, giving the film quite a lot of likable factors.
Overview: ****/5
A rather fun take on the genre, there’s a lot to like here with this existing as not just a curiosity piece but also as a fully-fledged genre effort that comes together rather well. Those with an appreciation for this style of genre fare or who are curious about it will have the most to like here, while those turned off by the flaws here should heed caution.
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