Director: Buichi Saito
Notable Cast: Tomisaburo
Wakayama, Akhiro Tomikawa, Yoichi Hayashi, Michi Azuma, Asao Koike, Hiroshi
Tanaka, Tatsuo Endo, Asao Uchida, Shin Kishida, So Yamamura
Is it that strange that director Kenji Misumi would want to
take a break from directing Lone Wolf and
Cub movies after making three of them in one year? Not at all, but the
fourth film in this acclaimed franchise could have used his talents in
executing its concept. Lone Wolf and Cub:
Baby Cart in Peril is easily the weakest of the films in the new Criterion box set thus far,
continuing a downward slide in quality for the series since the second one, and
it sincerely misses a lot of the artistic merit that Misumi would have brought
into the fold. The film is still outrageously entertaining, almost to the point
of reaching new heights of silliness for the ultra-violent series, and deserves
some credit for making a lot of its flaws into enjoyable tidbits of grindhouse
fun, but it suffers greatly from an overly complicated plot and lacks the focus
to drive home its better concepts and characters.
