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Shogun Warrior
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| Shogun Warrior is a 1991 comedy film directed by Gordon Hessler. It stars David Essex & Sh Kosugi. |
Its basically the TV series Shogun meets The Golden Voyage of Sinbad. I checked on IMDB & it seems the director was responsible for the latter! This is no suprise........
It moves from Japanese Shogun movie, to Buckaneering High Seas Adventure then to The Three Musketeers & finally The Thief of Bagdad. As a result we have at one point a Medieval Knight fighting a Samurai in a joust!! Phew!
Its fairly low budget so there isnt a cast of millions lets just say. This becomes evident in the battle & crowd scenes.
The main character Sho Kosugi is great as the Samurai Mayeda. Hes credited with a host of Martial Arts films & it shows. Christopher Lee has maybe 5 lines but disappears. The word cameo is of significance here. This is unfortunate as he has prominent billing on the cover.
The turning point come with the introduction of David Essex. The film descends into a directionless pantomime farce. It actually tries to mix a bit of romance & even comedy in! Im just grateful there wasnt a comic monkey scene......
......although the scene where Mayeda uses his supernatural Samurai powers to make his sword smoke is just as bad. Its like they tried to please everyone & ended flat on their faces. But its inoffensive & good natured. The ending is particularly good as all the threads need tying. How they do this is beyond belief.
David Essex is a British actor & singer who has enjoyed a varied career. Born in London, real name David Cook, he failed in his first attempt at stardom. His big break came when he was selected to play the lead in the musical Godspell in 1971. It took a couple of years for his career to take off, which it did with his appearance in the film, Thatll Be The Day & a major hit, Rock On, in the same year. A number one hit & a follow-up film turned him into one of the UKs biggest stars. In 1978, Essex was Che Guevara in the original production of Evita & in the same year appeared in the film Silver Dream Racer, all the while continuing his successful singing career. However, by the time of his West End musical flop, Mutiny, based on the Mutiny on the Bounty story, in 1985, his appeal was on the wane. Essex has nevertheless continued to act & sing & enjoys a large fan base in the UK.
Posters Of David EssexEditors Choice: Shogun Warrior, Silver Dream Racer, David Essex, The River, Kenny Everett, Live At The Royal Albert Hall, View DVDology