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Sengoku Jieitai
G.I. Samurai
Time Slip - Der Tag der Apokalypse
Japan 1979
produced by
Toshio Kamata, Haruki Kadokawa (executive)
directed by Kosei Saito (= Mitsumasa Saito)
starring Sonny Chiba, Isami Natsuki, Tsunehiko Watase, Raita Ryu, Jun Eto, Miyuki Ono, Hiroko Yakushimaru, Toshitaka Ito, Haruki Kadokawa, Hiroshi Kamayatsu, Kenzo Kawarazaki, Asao Koike, Kentaro Kudo, Ko Kuraishi, Masao Kusakari, Yoishi Miura, Noboru Nakaya, Mikio Narita, Isao Natsuyagi, Akira Nishikino, Nana Okada, Hitoshi Omae, Hiromitsu Suzuki, Mancho Tsuji, Hiroyuki Sanada
screnplay by Toshio Kamata, based on a novel by Ryo Hanmura, music by Kentaro Haneda
review by
Mike Haberfelner
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For some undefined reason, a platoon of modern-day Japanese soldiers
led by General Iba (Sonny Chiba) and complete with tanks, helicopter,
armored cars and a small battle boat, is transported back to 16th century
Japan, the time of the traditional Samurai, where they are soon sucked
into a local conflict.
At first, General Iba is reluctant to join forces with either side,
because this would disturb the time-space-continuum, but soon, Samurai
General Kagetora (Isami Natsuki) - a man after his own taste who is
interested in little but making war - convinces him otherwise and
persuades him to help him conquer all of Japan ... which - Iba argues more
to himself than anyone else - would enrage the God of Time so much that he
would simply have to transport him and his platoon back to present day
Japan.
At this point however, several of Iba's own soldiers start to rebel,
which he as an authority figure cannot accept, and then Iba's
technological advantage begins to crumble when ammonition and gas run low.
Finally, it's time for the fight against Lord Shingen, Kagetora's
arch-enemy, and his warriors, a battle that soon turns to chaos when
Shingen's men manage to bring down Iba's helicopter and destroy his tanks.
Iba only manages to turn the battle around when he personally takes on
Shingen in a duel, kills him and cuts his head off, just to show his
adversaries who's in charge.
Eventually, Iba's men - only a handful after the last battle - figure
that it will soon be possible to slip back to present-day Japan ... but
Iba has by now come to like the ways of the samurai and of making war and
not only forbids his men to travel back in time, he even holds them back
by gunpower ...
However, by now Iba's fortunes have turned, without helicopter and
tanks and almost no ammo he is no longer interesting for his allies, and
Kagetora has already turned against him to save his own hide. In the
finale, Iba and his soldiers are killed by Kagetora and his men ... but
they get a hero's funeral ...
Now that's a film that doesn't quite live up to it's promise: The idea
to transport modern day soldiers and their weaponry back 400 years might
be an interesting one and full of opportunities - but unfortunately the
film makes rather little out of it, it all too soon loses interest in its
initial concept and seems to be content in showing one violent and bloody
battle scene after another. On the plus-side the action is all very well
made, the downside is of course that without a good story as framework for
the action scenes, one soon enough loses interest in them until th film
seems like nothing more than a blunt glorification of warfaring as such.
Rather a pity,
and not really worth your time, especially when considering this film is
over 2 hours long.
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