Okay, I seem to recall a thread on this, but couldn’t find it. I watched it last night, and have to say that I was a bit surprised. It was a lot more entertaining than I was expecting. I guess I was expecting something really home video-looking like High Kick Girl. But it turns out that, for me, it was more entertaining than any other recent MA-based movies out of Japan, as well as anything recent out of mainland China or Thailand.
Firstly, this movie is an homage of sorts to KF movies of the 1970s to early '80s. A MA disciple travels throughout Japan, challenging the best fighters in various disciplines. Before he fights them, he eats the favorite dish of each fighter to learn more about them. After each victory, he is presented the secret scrolls to each style, which he presents to his sensei. The movie is a comedy, yet also contains some MA wisdom at the end; the leading character plays it straight throughout, giving a good balance to the goofiness of some of the characters. The fights are more intricately choreographed than most nowadays, an obvious nod to KF films, and I don’t recall any wire work, though there is some CGI at certain points.
The movie is quirky, but not overly bizarre if you’re at all familiar with Japanese cinematic humor. If not, then you may be at a loss…after viewing this, I checked out some reviews on Amazon and was a bit surprised that the majority were negative. To each his own, but it appears that some reviews were given by underachieving 6th-graders (perhaps during a kiddie sleepover?), some of whom even admitted that they didn’t even watch the film. Clearly, not everyone will like it, and for some the humor and the entire point of the film will go over their heads, but if someone’s going to review it, there should at least be a requirement that they watched the ****ed thing.
Bushido Man takes place in modern times, but also has the feel of a period piece. My favorite opponent of his was the Japanese cowboy who uses a pistol, but they’re all fun. There were even a couple surprises the movie had for me, which, if you’ve seen as many movies (especially MA movies) as I have, is not easy to do. It’s also beautifully shot. I suppose this will be one you either love or hate. But I would definitely recommend using the Japanese with English subs option.