A Bandit's Heart: 11 Rebels (2025) Review

Director: Kazuya Shiraishi

Notable Cast: Takayuki Yamada, Taiga Nakano, Ukon Onoe, Riho Sayashi, Takara Sakumoto, Seiji Chihara, Amane Okayama, Yuya Matsuura, Hayate Ichinose, Ryota Oyanagi, Chikara Motoyama, Shuhei Nomura, Shunsuke Tanaka, Satoru Matsuo, Fuga Shibazaki

 

It’s a cinematic samurai tradition by now. The story of a rogue’s gallery of anti-heroes, overcoming their differences, their pasts, and their fears to stand together for one last good thing. Although Seven Samurai has been remade and/or influenced thousands upon thousands of films in all genres, there is certainly a case to be made that this kind of samurai story still stands as one of the best kinds of stories to watch, even in 2025.

 

In the vein of classics such as the previously mentioned Akira Kurosawa picture, 47 Ronin, or 13 Assassins, the latest film from director Kazuya Shiraishi, 11 Rebels, will easily become a modern favorite of the genre. It’s brash in some of its narrative choices, particularly in its third act, and it features some incredible performances and action set pieces that set it apart from other action flicks this year. 11 Rebels is brutal in more ways than one, but hits its mark with remarkable efficiency even when it's treading on well-worn paths. 

 

Rurouni Kenshin: The Beginning (2021)

Director: Keishi Otomo

Notable Cast: Takeru Satoh, Kasumi Arimura, Issey Takahashi, Nijiro Murakami, Masanobu Ando, Kazuki Kitamura, Yosuke Eguchi, Towa Araki, Shima Onishi, Takahiro Fujimoto

 

With the fifth and (possibly) final installment of the Japanese box office juggernaut series, Rurouni Kenshin: The Beginning might be one of the boldest ways to cap off a franchise. After the successful trilogy run previously, the series came back with what constitutes a two-part finale. The first portion of that, Rurouni Kenshin: The Final, was only released a handful of months prior to this one and acts as a final stamp on the series. It gives the red-haired wandering swordsman his peace to cap off a rather remarkable character arc that covered four films and featured some of the best action set pieces of the series, a bombastic set of spectacle-driven moments, and all of the characters that fans loved. It was the feather in the cap of one of action cinema’s most balanced and effective franchises. 

 

In the fourth film though, there are flashbacks to an origin for the titular character, Kenshin, that are the core for this prequel. Hence the title, Rurouni Kenshin: The Beginning. Just in case there may be those who are new to the series or simply want to know just how upfront the filmmakers wanted to be with this entry. Yes, this fifth entry is a prequel to the entire series and, no, it does not suffer at all from the narrative setbacks and leaps of logic that plague so many prequels. 

 

To be frank, The Beginning might be the most daring in its tone, atmosphere, and artistic merits of the series. It’s an almost fully different experience than the others, cinematically speaking, and yet is the perfect lead-in for the story, character, and narrative build for all of the rest. It’s incredibly well-executed and ranks up there as one of the best. 

 

Samurai Marathon (2020)

Director: Bernard Rose

Notable Cast: Takeru Satoh, Nana Komatsu, Mirai Moriyama, Shota Sometani, Munetaka Aoki, Ryu Kohata, Yuta Koseki, Motoki Fukami, Shinsuke Kato, Joey Iwanaga

As soon as Samurai Marathon came to my attention, it was a film that immediately went onto the ‘must see’ list. Between the concept, the direction of Candyman helmer Bernard Rose, and a role for Takeru Satoh of Rurouni Kenshin fame, this film was of substantial interest. After knowing that information, I blocked myself from watching any trailers or learning anything more about the film. I had seen enough. It was probably a mistake to do such a thing. My expectations were not in line with what the film was and my initial watch was, to put it lightly, perplexing. I assumed that ‘marathon’ was more of a symbolic word. Nope. This is a ‘based on a true story’ film where a bunch of samurai volunteer to race cross country for the entire second half of the film. The title, which was originally Samurai Marathon 1855, was fuckin’ literal. I was not prepared for it.

Sleepy Eyes of Death 12: Castle Menagerie (1969)

Director: Kazuo Ikehiro

Notable Cast: Raizo Ichikawa, Naoko Kubo, Shiho Fujimura, Kayo Matsuo, Saburo Date, Shinjiro Ehara, Hideko Yoshida, Asao Koike, Atsumi Uda, Machiko Hasegawa

Raizo Ichikawa made the Sleepy Eyes of Death films. His performance, even when the scripts were patchy or the direction uneven, kept these films afloat throughout this portion of the series. He embodied the anti-hero characteristics and the razor-sharp expressions that betrayed his almost nonchalant, devil-may-care attitude. It’s because of his brilliant work that this twelfth entry, Castle Menagerie, has a tragic aura to it. There is a lot in this film about death and finding oneself face to face with a mirror image of one’s own flaws, a reflection that is both the same and inherently different. Sleepy Eyes of Death 12 is also Ichikawa's last portrayal of Kyoshiro before his unfortunate passing. Knowing this and considering the themes and visual styling of the film, the haunting aura of this film along with some of its bolder choices with the narrative and plot make it one of the best films of the franchise. A sad reminder of just how fantastic Ichikawa is as an actor and how quickly ones flaws can bring about their passing.

Sleepy Eyes of Death 11: In the Spider's Lair (1968)

Director: Kimiyoshi Yasuda

Notable Cast: Raizo Ichikawa, Mako Midori, Maka Sarijo, Ysuke Kawazu, Furnio Watanabe, Minori Terada

Going into the eleventh entry of the Sleepy Eyes of Death franchise, it was hard not to hope that the series could rebound a little bit from the previous two entries, which, while entertaining, were subpar overall. Perhaps it was the low expectations from the last two entries that allowed me to enjoy what Sleepy Eyes of Death 11: In the Spider’s Lair had to offer, but the film was quite fun and entertaining. This entry into the chanbara series pulls back and simplifies its story and narrative even further and instead of trying to find a balance of approaches, it aims to entertain and provide a consumable and gimmick filled Kyoshiro adventure first and foremost. I’m not saying that In the Spider’s Lair is the best of the series, hardly, but it’s silly streamlined focus on adventurous entertainment certainly hit a sweet spot for me.

Sleepy Eyes of Death 9: A Trail of Traps (1967)

Director: Kazuo Ikehiro

Notable Cast: Raizo Ichikawa, Nobuo Kaneko, Toshio Kimura, Haruko Wanibuchi, Mikio Narita, Naoko Kubo, Kayo Mikimoto

One of the things that keeps rising to my attention, at least while I am working my way through the rest of the Sleepy Eyes of Death series, is that often my opinion of individual films goes against the popular one. I found that Sleepy Eyes of Death 8 was surprisingly effective and cinematic, despite it being one that was generally unpopular with fans, and for the ninth entry, A Trail of Traps, my opinion once again swung the opposite direction.  Where fans tend to find this one massively entertaining and above the usual quality of the series, as the film rolled to a close, there was a feeling that the potential of the concept did not equal the film that was delivered. Despite some fantastic moments, a strong visual approach by director Kazuo Ikehiro, and another set of really strong performances from the cast, A Trail of Traps is a film where the meandering script has no real sense of purpose and seemingly strings together a half dozen plot threads in an attempt to layer a film that doesn't have the nuance and momentum to make it work. It is entertaining, for sure, but the fun concept isn’t enough to keep the film from floating off on its own trail of narrative traps.

Sleepy Eyes of Death 6: Sword of Satan (1965)

Director: Kimiyoshi Yasuda

Notable Cast: Raizo Ichikawa, Michiko Saga, Machiko Hasegawa, Masako Aboshi, Noriko Hodaka, Kazuko Wakamatsu

“Tsurumatsu! Don’t close your eyes. This is what it means to be a samurai...to kill each other!”

The Sleepy Eyes of Death franchise, by the time the third and fourth entry have hit, certainly found their formula where Kyoshiro, played time and time again by the impressive screen presence of Raizo Ichikawa, essentially stumbles into random conspiracies while on the road. For the sixth entry, titled Sword of Satan for perhaps only one reason that I will get into here in a minute, the film continues to pump out another adventure for our nihilistic hero...and that’s about it. The last couple of entries has seen the series pull back a little bit from the usual gimmicks and tonally that remains for this sixth one, but this is a film that is so bare bones in its narrative that it uses most of its second act to string together somewhat random sequences to keep things exciting. Considering the film runs at such an efficient pace that it only clocks in at a whopping 75 minutes, it’s hard to say that it wasn’t entertaining even if that’s about all it is. Sword of Satan doesn’t have quite the lasting effect that other entries into the series have and that’s perhaps its biggest flaw.

Gintama (2018)

Director: Yuichi Fukuda

Notable Cast: Shun Oguri, Masaki Suda, Kanna Hashimoto, Yuya Yagira, Hirofumi Arai, Ryo Yoshizawa, Akari Hayami, Tsuyoshi Muro, Masami Nagasawa, Masaki Okada

With Gintama, by the time the end credits rolled, I sincerely felt out of my element. There are a variety of reasons for this, but even within the first ten minutes of this cartoonish and comedic genre bending adaption of the popular manga/anime, Gintama makes it very clear that this is a film for fans of the style and the original releases and everyone else is just shit out of luck. Unfortunately, I’m part of the group that includes everyone else. I’m only educated on the rough elements surrounding anime and don’t actively dig into the genre. Gintama is a film dedicated to the style, tones, and general feeling for fans of the anime/manga. It’s two hours of outlandish slapstick style and randomized humor, impressive amounts of yelling, and a layered and often cartoonish sense of style that smashes together chanbara, science fiction, comedy, and action all into one genre. While I spent the entirety of the film in a state of perplexing confusion, it would seem that Gintama is made solely for the fans and rest are left on their own.

Sleepy Eyes of Death 5: Sword of Fire (1965)

Director: Kenji Misumi
Notable Cast: Raizo Ichikawa, Tamao Nakamura, Michiko Sugata, Sanae Nakahara, Ko Nishimura, Ryuzo Shimada, Koichi Mizuhara, Junko Kozakura, Toru Abe

Aka: Nemuri Kyoshiro 5: The Swordsman and the Pirate

By the time that the Sleepy Eyes of Death franchise hits its fifth entry, the series has already seen its fair share of quality shifts and unique approaches to its series formula. It started off on some questionable and pulpy ground, but found a balance between serious artistic merit and those pulpy entertaining pieces with the last few entries. This balance of the previous films is what makes the fifth entry, Sword of Fire, such an intriguing one. Mainly because it’s a film that strips back a lot of the more entertaining elements for a starkly serious thriller tone. Where previous entries use some strong faced characters, snappy dialogue, or dynamic settings, Sword of Fire opts for a ‘less is more’ approach to things and plays its script in subtle ways. For fans of the series, it’s perhaps one of the less memorable ones due to these choices even if the film itself is impressively handled.

Blade of the Immortal (2017)

Director: Takashi Miike

Notable Cast: Takuya Kimura, Hana Sugisaki, Sota Fukushi, Hayato Ichihara, Erika Toda, Kazuki Kitamura, Chiaki Kuriyama, Shinnosuke Mitsushima, Ichikawa Ebizo XI, Min Tanaka, Tsutomu Yamazaki

As it was very well publicized in the US as a marketing ploy for the film, Blade of the Immortal marks the 100^th film by Takashi Miike (which, for the record and at the time of this review, he’s now in post-production of his 102^nd film although that’s certainly a debatable number entirely based on the credits themselves, but I digress) and it’s fitting that this film would mark his transition into the triple digits. It’s not because Blade of the Immortal is his best film. When a dynamic director such as this gets to 100 films of such diversity it’s hard to make claims of what’s his ‘best’ simply due to the ground he has covered, but this film feels like one that’s decently consumable on a mass scale yet still feels like it pulls aspects from a lot of his various films for its execution too. It’s like a greatest hits of style and pieces of his long and illustrious career wrapped into one massively entertaining spectacle. While that sounds like perhaps the film is watered down overall, Blade of the Immortal is not. It’s a film that takes a rather simple core structure and builds a world of characters and gimmicks around it that never ceases to entertain and draw the audience into their lives. This is Miike at some of his most lavishly entertaining and it’s a celebration of his style that serves as a declaration of his continued momentum towards being one of the most ambitiously prolific directors ever in any worldly film market.

Sleepy Eyes of Death 4: Sword of Seduction (1964)

Director: Kazuo Ikehiro

Notable Cast: Raizo Ichikawa, Michiko Ai, Shinjiro Asano, Jyo Kenzaburo, Katsuhiko Kobayashi, Naoko Kubo, Ichiro Nakatani, Akemi Negishi, Shihio Fujimura, Jun Hamamura, Masumi Harukawa, Yoshio Inaba, Saburo Date

Also known as: Sleepy Eyes of Death: Sword of Seduction

After back to back entries that more than impressed, I feel like I was riding on a Sleepy Eyes of Death high, ready to consume more and see if the series could keep up its energetic and impactful run. The fourth entry, Sleepy Eyes of Death: Sword of Seduction, is a film that in concept should be ranked up there with Full Circle Killing and Sword of Adventure, but is held back by a scattered script. It’s one of those films that is overflowing with a multitude of fantastic sequences and ideas just begging for a cohesive movie to put it all together which it sadly never accomplishes. For fans of chanbara films or the series, there is plenty to adore about Sword of Seduction. The film as a whole, on the other hand, leaves something to be desired as it randomly leaps plots to be as entertaining as possible.

Sleepy Eyes of Death 3: Full Circle Killing (1964)

Director: Kimiyoshi Yasuda

Notable Cast: Raizo Ichikawa, Junichiro Narita, Yoko Wakasugi, Taro Marui, Kyooko Azuma, Saburo Date, Yuko Hamada, Takamaru Sasaki, Kenjiro Uemura

Aka Sleepy Eyes of Death: Full Circle Killing, Nemuri Kyoshiro: Full Circle Killing

When a niche genre becomes over-saturated, there tends to be a lot of lost classics in the mix. Unfortunately, the Sleepy Eyes of Death franchise – despite getting a nice box set release in the US years ago – has seemingly fallen into being one of those classics that have faded. I say unfortunate because even by three entries in, this series has solidified itself into classic status, forming a tight bridge between the more entertaining exploitative elements and a sharp artistic depth. The third entry, Sleepy Eyes of Death 3: Full Circle Killing continues on the path set up by the previous entry in blending the two sides of a chanbara film into an effective action film with quite a few messages to be said. While it doesn’t quite hit the heart and humanity of the previous one in that balance, it’s still impressive to watch and one that will not disappoint fans of the genre.

Top 30 Action Films of 2016

If you go back through my “Best Action Films of the Year” lists for the last few years, you will see that I do have a slight bias towards Asian cinema in the genre. While many people have voiced their disagreements with me on including too many films from those countries, I truly believe that their industry has a better understanding of the art form of an action film. This year, however, those people that let me know I cater too much to that style are going to pissed. Simply put, the Asian countries dominated the genre this year. Europe and Hollywood most certainly dropped the ball when it comes to the better action films of the year – particularly when it comes to being the best of the best. So take that into considering when going into this list.

Outside of that note, 2016 had some great action films although none of them quite stood out against the pack like Mad Max: Fury Road or John Wick did in the last couple of years. There are plenty of mainstream goodies to be had here, but as always I love to throw in a few ‘black sheep’ entries that will surely get me some hate mail and snide comments from all over the interwebz. As that goes, here is my disclaimer that this list is purely based on my opinion of the best action films that came out this year and we are open to hear about what you guys think we missed or gave too high of a ranking for. This is 2016, I hold no delusions that the internet will voice its opinion over a list like this one. So feel free to shed some blood in the comments section, send us an email, post on our Facebook wall, or Tweet us.

Lone Wolf and Cub: White Heaven in Hell (1974)

Director: Toshiyuki Kuroda

Notable Cast: Tomisaburo Wakayama, Akihiro Tomikawa, Junko Hitomi, Isao Kimura, Minoru Ohki

While the fifth entry marked the return of Kenji Misumi and an artistic quality to the Lone Wolf and Cub franchise, the sixth and final entry will see it hit the lowest point. Lone Wolf and Cub: White Heaven in Hell might be one of the most memorable films of the series particularly with its epic, snowy battle in the final act, but it’s also the one with the least amount of resonating effect after the film finishes. This is for a variety of reasons, including a new director in the fold and its writing, but in the end it’s a film that tries to survive purely on visuals and lacks any kind of emotional or artistic heartbeat underneath. It’s a fun movie and the visuals are strong. Yet, it just doesn’t have that knack for giving any of it depth beyond the basics leaving the final entry one that never wraps things up and never feels whole in itself.

Lone Wolf and Cub: Baby Cart in the Land of Demons (1973)

Director: Kenji Misumi

Notable Cast: Tomisaburo Wakayama, Akihiro Tomikawa, Akiray Yamauchi, Hideji Otaki, Taketoshi Naito, Fuijo Suga, Rokko Toura, Shingo Yamashiroas, Tomomi Sato, Michiyo Ookusu, Koji Fujiyama, Sumida Kazuyo, Bin Amatsu, Taizen Shishido, Eiji Okada, Minoru Ohki

Finally, the downward spiral of the Lone Wolf and Cub franchise ends. After a slightly off beat western influenced entry (Baby Cart to Hades) and an entry that fully embraced its exploitative elements (Baby Cart in Peril), the fifth entry to this critically acclaimed series is back to running with all of the great things about Lone Wolf and Cub. You can say that a lot of this happens because of the return of Kenji Misumi to the director’s chair, which is a huge part of it, but Lone Wolf and Cub: Baby Cart in the Land of Demons is just a better, more cohesive film all around. The artistic merits have come back into the fold, the performances are top notch, and the writing might be the most fluid that the series has seen thus far. While the first two entries certainly receive a bulk of the praise for this franchise, Baby Cart in the Land of Demons is just as good – and I’ll go there – if not slightly better than both of the first films. It’s a remarkable piece of chanbara cinema that takes the best artistic aspects and gives it that Lone Wolf spin in all the best ways.

Rurouni Kenshin - Part II: Kyoto Inferno (2014/2016) and Rurouni Kenshin - Part III: The Legend Ends (2014/2016)

Director: Keishi Otomo

Notable Cast: Takeru Satoh, Emi Takei, Munetaka Aoki, Kaito Oyagi, Tatsuya Fujiwara, Ryunosuke Kamiki, Yu Aoi, Maryjun Takahashi, Ryosuke Miura, Yusuke Iseya, Tao Tsuchiya, Yosuke Eguchi, Min Tanaka, Masaharu Fukuyama

After kicking off the franchise with such a great entry like Rurouni Kenshin – Part I: Origins, there was only one place to go with the series: more epic. The following two sequels, Part II: Kyoto Inferno and Part III: The Legend Ends, are essentially one four-and-a-half-hour sequel split into two parts. They were not going to fuck around when they decided to go epic, I suppose, and this was the manner in which they chose to embrace it. The two films are essentially one film, so for my review I decided it was fitting to review them together.  Both are strong entries into the franchise, although neither quite hits the heights of the original in blending fun, entertainment, heart, and action in such an effective manner. In fact, it’s the epic nature of these films that is both a blessing and a curse. Yes, both films take the series to the next level of complexity, but it lacks a bit of that efficient storytelling that made the first one so good. Both are still highly entertaining blends of classic samurai storytelling with modern scale, so keep that in mind as you dig into Kyoto Inferno and The Legend Ends and enjoy them for the massive scale sequels they are.

Lone Wolf and Cub: Baby Cart in Peril (1972)

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.

Rurouni Kenshin - Part I: Origins (2012/2016)

Director: Keishi Otomo

Notable Cast: Takeru Satoh, Emi Takei, Munetaka Aoki, Teruyuki Kagawa, Yu Aoi, Koji Kikkawa, Gou Ayano, Genki Sudo, Taketo Tanaka, Yosuke Eguchi, Eiji Okuda

Also known as: Rurouni Kenshin

With another entry into “why the hell didn’t this get a full US release earlier,” Rurouni Kenshin (or as the new US release is called Rurouni Kenshin - Part I: Origins) finally drops on home video via Funimation and after watching it I have to ask that question again. Truthfully, there are a lot of things about the film that would make a company feel hesitant to release the film including that it’s a live action adaption of a well-known anime and it’s a samurai action film which can be hard to sell to the general US public. However, the film is phenomenal. The first part of a trilogy, all of which have already gotten a release in Japan, Rurouni Kenshin takes a lot of classic Japanese samurai themes and imagery and powers it with a quirky sense of timing and then wraps it all in ridiculously high energy sword fighting action sequences. Sure, the film with its strong sense of Japanese history and culture can be a tough sell for American audiences, but the film is so impressively executed that it comes with some of the highest recommendations we can offer here.

Sleepy Eyes of Death 2: Sword of Adventure (1964)

Director: Kenji Misumi

Notable Cast: Raizo Ichikawa

The first Sleepy Eyes of Death film was a decent sword and slash affair that found it a bit difficult to balance its thematic narrative with its entertaining aspects. It’s still a fun film, but hardly the iconic classic that I would have assumed it would be to spawn such a loved cult franchise. This is one of the reasons that it took me so long before getting around to the second film in the series, under the title Sleepy Eyes of Death 2: Sword of Adventure. However, the arrival of the massively underrated director Kenji Misumi to the series fold makes a world of difference for the tone and execution for this film. Instead of gimmicky villains and an almost tongue in cheek nihilistic approach to its characters, Sword of Adventure takes a politically charged approach and it creates a much smarter and streamlined affair that finds the balance between entertainment and depth of writing. It’s such a huge step up in quality that I’m now excited to see what the rest of this series has to offer.

Sleepy Eyes of Death 1: The Chinese Jade (1963)

Director: Tokuzo Tanaka

Notable Cast: Raizo Ichikawa, Tamao Nakamura

Also known as: Nemuri Kyoshiro 1: Sappocho, Enter Kyoshiro Nemuri, the Swordsman, Nemuri Kyoshiro: The Chinese Jade

The Sleepy Eyes of Death franchise has always received a fair amount of praise from its cult fans and fans of chanbara films, so after finishing up the Zatoichi franchise I needed a new swordsman epic to focus my time on. The first film of this  portion of the series, which goes under a few different titles like The Chinese Jade, is a rather mediocre affair considering the hype that surrounds this series. On its surface, it’s a decently entertaining swordsman tale that takes a mystery plot and adds in a ton of pulpy popular elements to it, but the film thinks it’s much smarter and deeper than it actually is.