Manthast Absolutely amazing

InformationRap This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

Sameer Callahan It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

Deanna There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

Leofwine_draca A muddled but amiable international adventure yarn, taking in Japan, Spain, and Morocco along the way, never the sum of its parts. The problem with this movie is that it literally tries to throw in elements of all genres - there's romantic intrigue, action and adventure, war, historical drama, and plenty more besides. The film is episodic in feel, sometimes contrived, and the story never feels anything less than shallow. But despite all this, the cast of familiar faces is nice - despite the fact that all actors merely go through the motions, aside from David Essex - the action sequences are well-staged and exciting, and the characters interesting.The budget is used to the film's advantage, with some fine locations and backdrops for the plot to play out on. The action ranges from cool ship battles to one-on-one sword fights to scenes of war, with a definite feel of Indiana Jones to them. There are some nice stunts but things never get too bloody, this being a PG-13 film and all, so there's an element of unrealism there. There are about three climaxes in the film, each more exciting than the last, even if all are predictable sword-fighting stuff. Gordon Hessler's direction is capable but never fantastic, and there's always a distance between the audience and actors.Sho Kosugi re-teams with son Kane after BLACK EAGLE and the pair are pretty good as the Shogun warriors, whose pride comes before everything. Be sure to check out the supporting cast, which includes Norman Lloyd as a crooked man of the cloth; David Essex (who overacts completely) as a wicked Spanish Duke; Christopher Lee (in what amounts to a cameo appearance) as the King of Spain; John Rhys-Davies as the crooked El Zaiden, of Morocco; Ronald Pickup as a pirate; Toshiro Mifune (another cameo) as a Japanese warlord, and finally the lovely Polly Walker as Cecilia, the film's romantic interest. SHOGUN WARRIOR is a watchable, entertaining movie, nothing you won't have seen before, but at least it looks good.

swedzin The movie is quite mediocre. Nothing special happens, the plot itself is not that much epic, the characters are two dimensional and too much ordinary. The story is about shogun warrior Mayeda who is also a personal bodyguard to emperor's son. After the tragic death of his family, his emperor sends him to Spain to do trading. On the way and in the Spain, the trouble follows, so Mayeda has to protect emperor's sun and to show Spanish king his worth and trust. First of all script and directing are boring and too much predictable, obvious and simple. Simple, not in a good way. Now, we have actors… This is one of the 90s appearances of Sho Kosugi in foreign films. But, here, I'll be honest, he tries hard to do some serious acting. He really does, and his character of Mayeda his one tough guy. Honorable and brave, the kind of character that you really enjoy. His son Kane Kosugi appears as emperor's sun Yorimune and I think he was not that bad and I think the character is pretty well written. A young and brash prince, who also holds high respect for Spanish king and bravery. Although, he is bonded by Japanese tradition… when it comes to the women, for example. The leading lady is Cecillia, played by Polly Walker. Polly was young and still has to learn about acting. Cecillia was nothing special, you could easily see that she was there only to fell in love with Mayeda. The leading villain is Don Pedro, played by David Essex. Pedro was funny and typical (spoiled and easily insulted) villain, full of boring pride. While David Essex didn't even try to act here. I was just not that convinced that he was Spanish. Now, for the serious stuff when it comes to the actors. We have John Rhys-Davies here. Yep, as a supporting Turkish villain. This is one of those times, when John started (perhaps) to appear in these low budget movies. We also have Toshiro Mifune, who plays Japanese emperor. He was OK… Mifune hardly fails in his performance. And we also have Christopher Lee as a Spanish king. What an excellent choice for the role, and to give a high ruling position in contrast to Mifune's Japanese emperor. That was just great. Lee was good, also hardly to fail. Although he looked kind of disinterested in his part. Other things as music, editing… well nothing special, as I said before… The movie also has a pretty interesting subplot about an evil plot that christians have with secret samurai clan to kill young prince. I could easily say, (maybe I am wrong) that this movie shows some evil Christian influence on high royals from that time. I don't necessarily recommend this film. But, if you are a fan of sword fighting, especially in this kind of film where Spanish swordsman fights a samurai… but who will win? For that, you need to see the movie.

t_atzmueller I must admit that I have been a sucker for Samurai flicks since I can remember. I used to watch rather indiscriminate, be it "elitist" works like The Seven Samurai or the bloody comic-book variation like Lone Wolf and Cub. I also liked US-/Japanese "Crossovers" like The Bushido Blade. And of course everything containing Sonny Chiba and Hiroyuki Sanada. And I've virtually watched every Samurai at least twice. But not Kabuto.In 1993 I first watched Kabuto on video, that even Samurai films can be boring. In the beginning I was looking forward to Mayeda reaching Europe and the confrontations that would come from that but by the time he actually reached Spain, I really didn't care so much for the movie anymore.It wouldn't do the film justice to call it "bad". Technically it's a clean entry into the genre. But there is simply never quiet enough. Sho Kosugi has limited skills as both director and actor and has only a fraction of above mentioned Japanese actors charisma. And speaking of Sho Kosugis son Kane, who appears in almost all Sho Kosugi films as Shos son: he has inherited little-to-none of his fathers limited acting skills. Adding to the minus-points is the absence of the blood and gore that until then was a trademark of all Samurai film. This was obviously intended for a younger US- / European audience.Lets just say that it's a so-so film for the average historic-action-adventure fan but a bore for hardened fans of Samurai cinema. Fans who are into the "Samurai meets …"-genre, should rather go and watch Red Sun (1971), featuring Charles Bronson as cowboy who has to team up with Samurai Toshiro Mifume to retrieve a samurai sword from bad-guy Alan Delon. It pretty much how to do it right and where Kabuto went wrong.So, even though the film is a mere 100 minutes, it seems like a much longer film.The reason I gave this a honourable 4/10 points instead of 3/10: First time I saw this film, I saw it in the German synchronized version. In this version, Kosugi can actually be understood. I must admit that his 'Engrish' is at times funny but gets tiresome after about 30 minutes.

Veles24 It tries to be the epic adventure of the century. And with a cast like Shô Kasugi, Christopher Lee and John-Rhys Davies it really is the perfect B-adventure of all time. It's actually is a pretty fun, swashbuckling adventure that, even with it's flaws, captures your interest. It must have felt as the biggest movie ever for the people who made it. Even if it's made in the 90s, it doesn't have a modern feel. It more has the same feeling that a old Errol Flynn movie had. Big adventure movie are again the big thing in Hollywood but I'm afraid that the feeling in them will never be the same as these old movies had. This on the other hand, just has the real feeling. You just can't hate it. I think it's an okay adventure movie. And I really love the soundtrack. Damn, I want the theme song.