Samurai Fury - Blu-ray Review

[Michael Scott]

Samurai Fury



Movie:
Video:
Audio:
Extras:
Final Score:


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Movie
Japanese historical dramas are much less common in this day and age, with Korean and Chinese period pieces taking the brunt of that genre. However, I’ve been noticing more and more Japanese films coming out in the last few years, with films like Baby Assassins leading the pack. But Irie Yu’s historical drama Samurai Fury immediately caught my eye from the trailer. This was the first Japanese film in a long time that wasn’t comedy-driven or over-the-top gore. But instead, a classic styling of a time long since gone, with elements of the old Samurai movies of the 60s and 70s. Sure, it may never reach the peaks of the days of Mifune, but Samurai Fury does a solid job of recreating the classic Ronin/Samurai films of yesteryear, set in a modern era of filmmaking.

The year is 1461, and the entire nation is struggling under the weight of the Shogun ruling class. Plague and famine have racked the land, leaving 82 thousand people dead, and the populace struggling to put food in their mouths. To make matters even worse, the ruling class in Kyoto is doubling down on taxes to make up their losses, leaving the starving peasants to borrow from corrupt monk moneylenders to pay their taxes, only to find out the moneylenders take more than the government does from them. Caught between a rock and a hard place, the people of Japan are at a breaking point as they formulate a rough design of a plan to rise up and make their voices heard to the Shogun.

Enter young Saizo (Nagao Kento), a homeless waif with a bo staff who dares to stand up to the Shogunate’s head of security, Doken (Tsutsumi Shin’ichi), only to get shuffled off on one of Doken’s employed Ronin, Hyoe (Oizumo Yo). Hyoe seems to be a devil-may-care type of wanderer, laughing and drinking his way around the countryside while doing odd jobs for Doken. But despite his harmless exterior, something is brewing under the surface. While Doken uses Hyoe to tamp down the impending uprisings from the peasants, Hyoe has his own plans. Plans that included training Saizo to be a full-fledged warrior and using him to formulate the largest rebellion ever seen. One that can take the city of Kyoto and destroy the money lending records and turn the Shogun’s head to the ire of the people.

Samurai Fury is taken from history in a real-life uprising during the Muromachi period, which is known for being the first uprising led by a Ronin (wandering Samurai), or more accurately, Samurai without a master, and while I have very little experience with the actual events, I ended up really enjoying the dramatization. Samurai Fury feels like a much older film, hearkening back to the classic days of Feudal Samurai films that I grew up on. Infusing a Spaghetti Western score with a modern synth undertone near the end, the film feels both new and old, giving us a taste of that classic Samurai honor and violence, while tweaking it with more modern camera angles and dialogue.

I will say that I did feel some of the callbacks to classic Samurai films went a bit too far, with some of the deaths being overacted comically, and that final battle between the Ronin and the Shogun’s men went on a bit TOO long. That being said, this was a solid effort at a modern-day Samurai film and ended up being just as good as I would have hoped. There are some minor niggles here and there, but overall it’s fun. Saizo is a great protege of Hyoe, and Tsutsumi Shin’ichi’s classic acting skills are on full display here. I just wish that Rina Takeda’s martial arts skills had been on display a bit more here, as she’s relegated to a mute side character that only has about 5-10 minutes of screen time.




Rating:

Not Rated by the MPAA




Video:

The Blu-ray release was taken from a digital shoot with a 2K master, and looks simply stunning in 1080p. I watched the 4K UHD disc BEFORE I watched this Blu-ray disc, and the difference in lighting is quite surprising. The Blu-ray is noticeably brighter than the 4K disc, and at first I started to appreciate it more. You can see more details (it seems), and clothing stands out more. But the more I watched the more I realized how much I missed the taming of the highlights in really bright scenes, and the banding found on the disc showed up a few times more than I wanted. Black levels are great, with silky deep shadows and wonderful details even in the darkest of scenes. Like the 4K disc, some of the color grading makes things a bit milky in the dark, but it’s not majorly distracting for an otherwise immaculate disc.







Audio:

Samurai Fury sports the same Dolby Atmos track on both the Blu-ray and the 4K UHD disc; thus, the audio section of both reviews will be identical. This is an action film, first and foremost, so expect a killer audio experience when the battles kick off. The flick does a balancing act between soft and subdued during dialogue-heavy bits and wildly active and kinetic during the battle sequences with ease. The scheming and plotting of Hyoe and the peasants tends to be a bit quieter and more subdued, but when Hyoe is fighting Saizo, or during the 45-minute end battle, things get a LOT more active. Surrounds are engaged at all times, ranging from the rustling and whispering sounds of the forest, up to the clashing and clanging of blades from all directions during the conflict. The spaghetti Western score is rich and powerful, but it’s those synth-based modern bits near the end that really get the bass and pulse thumping. Overall, this is a near-perfect audio mix in the original Japanese. There’s a secondary English DTS-HD MA 5.1 track, but the voice dubbing just isn’t up to snuff, and the downmixing to 5.1 leaves a little to be desired in terms of agility and lightness compared to the Atmos mix.








Extras:

• Well Go USA Previews
• Theatrical Trailers

Final Score: ​

Samurai Fury isn’t perfect, but it’s a fun take on a classic genre and looks and sounds great to boot. The movie stretches on about 15 minutes past its comfort point, but overall is a great watch for those of us looking for more period piece Japanese films. The Blu-ray looks and sounds amazing, with the same stunning Atmos track found on the 4K UHD disc. The extras are your typical anemic "trailers only" extras that is typical of Well Go USA, but the overall film is still well worth picking up in my opinion.



Technical Specifications:

Starring: Yo Oizumi, Shin'ichi Tsutsumi, Kazuki Kitamura, Tomoya Maeno, Rina Takeda
Directed by: Yu Irie
Written by: Yu Irie
Aspect Ratio: 2.391 AVC
Audio: Japanese: Dolby Atmos (Dolby TrueHD 7.1 Core), English DTS-HD MA 5.1, Japanese DD 2.0
Subtitles: English, French
Studio: Well Go USA
Rated: NR
Runtime: 135 Minutes
Blu-ray Release Date: October 28th, 2025

Recommendation: Fun Watch

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[tripplej]

Thanks for the review. Will check it out.