Master of Thunder: Kessen!! Fuuma ryuuko-den (2006)

Director:

Kenji Tanigaki

Writers:

Aoki Mao (writer)
Kenji Tanigaki (writer)

Genre:

Action

Plot Keywords:

Martial Arts | Demon | Kung Fu | Fighting

Cast

  (Credited cast)

Baudouin Euloge Adogony	...	Apollo
Rina Akiyama	...	Mami a maid
Sonny Chiba	...	Genryuu a bonze
Yuria Haga	...	Mika
Hitomi Hasebe	...	Mio a nun
Sugihara Isamu	...	Isamu
Ayumi Kinoshita	...	Ayumi
Ayaka Komatsu	...	Kaori
Hiranaka Kouji	...	Koosuke
Yasuaki Kurata	...	Santoku a bonze
Yûki Matsumura	...	Onono Takamura
Anna Nagata	...	Anna
Kôji Nakamura	...	Demon
Hideki Okada	...	Young Genryuu
Tsubaki Takayuki	...	Tooru
Terunosuke Takezai	...	Young Santoku

Also Known As:

Legend of Seven Monks (USA)

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Color:

Color

Possibly the film that inspired Chiba to retire

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

I'll generally watch anything with Sonny Chiba, but that doesn't mean I always like it.

Although the DVD cover claims Chiba "stars" in this film, he doesn't appear until 2/3 into the story. Instead, the plot revolves around Ayumi (played by Ayumi Kinoshita), the disciple of a monk (played by Yasuaki Kurata) who was part of a group of guardians who fought some big battle 40 years ago to prevent a demon from opening the portal between the realm of the living and the realm of the dead (Vengeful spirits = bad, status quo = good). 40 years later, as the demon sends his minion (yes, just one) to again attempt a breach of the seal, Ayumi is tasked with rounding up any surviving members of the original band of guardians to prevent the demon from succeeding. The problem is that most of them are dead and the monk has lost touch with the others. So they have to settle for their disciples--a rag tag band of Japanese teenagers plus an obnoxiously portrayed "gaijin" who need to be trained and molded into proper warriors before they can take on the demon and his minion (yup, same one).

Obviously, no one is watching this film for the complexity of the storyline. Sadly, the action is pretty uninspiring. The "massive battle" in beginning of the film involving the demon's minion and nearly 3 dozen monks should have been spectacular. Instead, it was so badly choreographed it came across as amateurish. The duel between Chiba and Kurata at the end is just about the only highlight of the film, but you have to sit through the entire movie to see it, and it's just not worth it (well, I guess you can fast forward to it, but then the battle wouldn't make much sense).