Scanialara You won't be disappointed!

SparkMore n my opinion it was a great movie with some interesting elements, even though having some plot holes and the ending probably was just too messy and crammed together, but still fun to watch and not your casual movie that is similar to all other ones.

Catherina If you're interested in the topic at hand, you should just watch it and judge yourself because the reviews have gone very biased by people that didn't even watch it and just hate (or love) the creator. I liked it, it was well written, narrated, and directed and it was about a topic that interests me.

Cody One of the best movies of the year! Incredible from the beginning to the end.

kluseba Lady Snowblood 2: Love Song of Vengeance is the very good and often underestimated sequel to the first Lady Snowblood movie released one year prior to this feature. Lady Snowblood turns out to have survived the events of the first film but is hunted down by police forces for her numerous murders. She gets tired of living on the run, stops fighting, gets arrested, tried and sentenced to death. On the day of her execution, the secret police force frees her and offers her to work as spy and assassin for them. Lady Snowblood is supposed to work as maid for an anarchist who has a document that could lead to a turmoil in the fragile country. She is supposed to steal the document, kill the anarchist and prevent a revolution. However, the more time she spends at his house, the more she questions whether she should complete her mission or switch sides. Lady Snowblood soon becomes a key character in the clash between ruthless government officials and desperate anarchists in the beginning of the twentieth century.Just as the first movie, this sequel convinces with a solid dose of realism and social criticism as it shows the rift between rich and poor during Meiji period. Due to its plot, historic setting and characters, this sequel isn't a tale of revenge but rather a political drama with martial arts elements. On one side, this change is quite interesting as this film offers something different from the first film but it also takes away from the first movie's gloomy atmosphere and more personal connection to the main character. The rest is business as usual on a very high level. The film-making is detailed, precise and visually stunning, the fight sequences once again find the right balance between elegance and violence and the acting performances are all excellent. If you liked the first film, it's very likely that you will also appreciate the sequel because it kept most elements that made the first film particularly outstanding and added more historic, political and social components to it.I can highly recommend the recently updated Criterion Collection including both the original Lady Snowblood and this surprisingly solid sequel as well as additional interviews and trailers. It's a shame that there weren't more Lady Snowblood movies because the feminist character is particularly unique and perfectly portrayed by a stunning Kaji Meiko. Martial arts fans and those interested in Japanese culture should be familiar with Lady Snowblood.

tomgillespie2002 Based on the manga comic by Kazuo Koike, 1973's Lady Snowblood is a simplistic rape-revenge thriller, pitting one woman with a mastery of swordsmanship against a hoard of faceless and disposable foes standing in her way. Opening with snow falling on darkness, Toshiya Fujita's film is also incredibly beautiful, offering a variety of strikingly colourful images, more often than not spattered with blood red. Stills from the movie could be framed and hung on your wall, but the main joy to be had is with its narrative simplicity and thrilling swordplay. The sight of Meiko Kaji slicing down one baddie after the next combined with her thirst for revenge propelled Lady Snowblood to exploitation royalty.The sequel came the very next year, and like most successes in which the hero achieves their goal and nicely wraps up the story, the only option going forward is to broaden the scope and give the protagonist a new mission. This approach is rarely successful, and Lady Snowblood: Love Song of Vengeance struggles to recapture the magic of its predecessor. With Snowblood a wanted woman, she is mercilessly pursued by the police until she eventually throws down her sword to prevent further bloodshed. Sentence to death, she is saved from the noose by Seishiro Kikui (Shin Kishida), the head of the Secret Police, and given the task of infiltrating anarchist Ransui (Juzo Itami) to locate a document that will convince the people to rise up against the government. When her allegiances change, the deadly assassin finds herself on the run again, and soon out for further revenge.The fight choreography is once again startling, with buckets of blood spurting from the unlikeliest of places. If anything, it improves on the first and certainly delivers more of it, with an early beach massacre and a climactic battle on a row of steps being the standout set-pieces. It moves at a fast pace, and offers historical context in snippets of black-and-white news footage (although some, if not all, were made for the film) and narration. Yet this also means that we're hit with a rather convoluted plot involving many characters, each with their own personal turmoil and ambitions. This takes away the sense of personal fury of the first film, with Kaji given few lines and little to do other than fight when called upon. She does shine when given the chance however, and hardcore fans of the genre will no doubt lap the balletic carnage.

The_Void The original Lady Snowblood has its place secured in history as one of the very best Pinky Violence/Female Samurai movies out there. This sequel, however, is not likely to be so fondly remembered; and the reason for that is mainly that it just isn't good enough. It just seems like the scriptwriters couldn't really think of an interesting idea to follow the original up with and so decided to just dump the title character into a largely unrelated plot and just hope for the best. The film has basically made the same mistake that befell the excellent Female Convict Series a year earlier in 1973; that being putting the character into a plot involving rebelling against the Government. The film picks up sometime after the events of the first film and Lady Snowblood is a wanted criminal. After giving the police the slip a couple of times; she is eventually captured. However, she is later rescued by the secret police; who offer the assassin a chance for redemption by helping them get rid of some rebels.The film gets off to a good start. We are treated to a couple of well done action sequences that see Lady Snowblood chop up some enemies; but once the plot kicks into action properly, things slow down a lot and it gets very boring at times; a very unwelcome change from the original which remained engrossing for the duration. Toshiya Fujita, the director of the original film, takes the reins again and does another very good job in terms of the visuals. The film looks delicious and the fight scenes are all very well choreographed. Unfortunately there are not as many nice visuals as in the first film. The bulk of the film really lacks action and the fight scenes only really take place at the beginning and end of the film, which is a shame. Still, the scenes we do get are very good and there's some memorable gore; which includes limbs being lopped and a very well done eye gouging sequence. Still, this is not nearly as great as the original film and while it is least worth a look; I think many fans of the original will be disappointed.

Witchfinder General 666 Toshiya Fujita's "Shura-yuki-hime: Urami Renga" aka. "Lady Snowblood 2: Love Song Of Vengeance" of 1974 is a quite different, but more than decent sequel to Fujita's blood-soaked and beautiful 1973 gem "Shurayukihime" (aka. "Lady Snowblood"). While the film does not nearly reach the greatness of its superb predecessor, "Love Song Of Vengeance" is yet another original and highly entertaining film that no lover of Japanese Cinema in general, and Chambara and Japanese Exploitation in particular should consider missing. The film sadly cannot compete with its predecessor's unique style and beauty, but it is still stylish, and furthermore delivers a good story, and, most memorably, the wonderful Meiko Kaji, who comes back with greatness as the eponymous (anti-)heroine.As it was the case with several other sequels to popular Japanese 70s exploitation flicks, the sequel adds some political/social commentary to the mainly vengeance-based plot of its predecessor. Obviously, the film is set several years after the events in the original "Lady Snowblood". Yuki/Lady Snowblood (Meiko Kaji) is captured, and sentenced to death for the thirty-seven killings committed by her in the predecessor. She is then offered to carry out an assassination in order to escape her execution... I don't want to give away more, but I can assure that the plot gets quite interesting for my fellow Chambara-fanatics. Japanese Exploitation-Goddess Meiko Kaji (one of my personal favorite actresses ever) is once again stunningly beautiful and brilliant in her role. My personal favorite Kaji role will always be that of female prison escapee Nami Matsushima in the brilliant "Joshuu Sasori" (aka. "Female Prisoner Scorpion") films, but the role of Lady Snowblood is also essential, and no lover of Cult-cinema could afford to miss her in the role (especially in the original, but also in the sequel). Meiko's presence alone would make any film worthwhile, in my opinion, and the film has a lot more to offer. The film's is, once again, filled with quite a bit of stylish bloodshed, which is not quite as aesthetic, but at some points even bloodier than in the predecessor. Unfortunately, the score in this one is not as memorable as that in the original (for which Meiko Kaji sang the theme song), and yet it is more than decent. Nowadays, the "Lady Snowblood" films are probably best known for being the main inspiration for Quentin Tarantino's "Kill Bill" films, but they sure deserve more attention for their own sake. The first film, "Lady Snowblood", is brilliant, and while "Love Song Of Vengeance" is not the masterpiece its predecessor was, it is still a highly entertaining, stylish and memorable film that I highly recommend to every lover of Chambara and Cult Cinema. My rating: 7.5/10