Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.0
Audio		3.5
Extras		3.0
Overall		4.0

Band of Assassins Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman May 26, 2024

Note: This film is available on Blu-ray as part of Radiance's Shinobi set.

Years ago FUNimation, a label almost exclusively associated with anime, kind of unexpectedly released a live action film (albeit one steeped in an intentionally cartoonish ambience) and I began my Goemon Blu-ray review of that release by kind of joking about the many different cinematic versions of Robin Hood (kind of hilariously, that link points to a version that came out after my Goemon review). I guess I could start this review of Radiance's release of the first three so-called Shinobi films by kind of joking about the many different cinematic versions of Goemon there are, since these three films do indeed center on that legendary Japanese character, who, maybe just a bit like Robin Hood, seems to have been culled from both historical and fictional elements. There's still considerable scholarly debate about how "real" Robin Hood may or may not have been, but there's little question that there was indeed a 16th century ninja named Ishikawa Goemon (Raizô Ichikawa), who really rather quite like the behaviors often attributed to Robin Hood and his Merry Men, "stole from the rich and gave to the poor". Rather interestingly, at least within the confines of my review queue, I'm also currently getting through the new Eureka! release of Prison Walls: Abashiri Prison I-III, another trilogy of Japanese films where several of the supplements discuss the incredibly rapid production pace for those particular films, all coming out within a year of each other. Something very similar was at play with regard to these first three Shinobi outings (there were several more to follow, which one assumes Radiance may be bringing out at some point), with all three debuting between December 1962 and December 1963.

Shinobi: Band of Assassins begins with some of the most striking imagery of the entire series, with a panning shot of the detritus of battle, including corpses and scavengers of both the avian and human variety, in a vignette that frankly would have been entirely at home in any of the Gothic entries in Severin's massive All the Haunts Be Ours: A Compendium of Folk Horror collection from a couple of years ago. That opening aptly documents the intense rivalries and internecine battles that will define much of the first three films.

Goemon initially comes off as a well meaning but probably overly naive young "ninja in training", and that naivete soon plays into one of the central subplots of the film, as Goemon gets caught up in a conspiracy to off a notorious warlord named Nobunaga Oda (Katsuhiko Kobayashi). Goemon's own potential missteps lead to some fraught moments, but the story is at least as interested in defining the "ninja culture" as it is in offering Goemon as a kind of feudal "secret agent".

Band of Assassins Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Shinobi: Band of Assassins is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Radiance Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.42:1. Radiance's insert booklet only offers some generic verbiage in its transfer notes, as follows:

Each film in the Shinobi series was transferred in high definition by the Kadokawa Corporation and supplied to Radiance Films as high definition digital masters.

As mentioned above, things get off to a striking start with this film, and that includes the well rendered imagery that offers potential compression bugaboos like smoke and mist in abundance (actually throughout all three films), but which provides secure reproductions of those phenomena. Contrast is very strong as well, though I found this film as well as its sequels to be just a tad on the dark side at times, so that just the barest hints of crush tend to creep in, especially in some of the nighttime scenes with black clad ninjas running to and fro. A surplus of decently lit close-ups provide some of the best examples of fine detail, and both facial features and textures on fabrics of costumes are appealingly precise looking. Minor damage can be spotted throughout. Grain resolves naturally.

Band of Assassins Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Shinobi: Band of Assassins features a DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono track in the original Japanese. There is noticeable crackle and hiss during the opening music, with hiss continuing to be prevalent throughout the rest of the presentation. There's an overall somewhat boxy sound to many of the sound effects, and some continued slight wobbliness in the often exuberantly weird music, but dialogue is presented cleanly and clearly enough. Optional English subtitles are available.

Band of Assassins Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Radiance has packaged these films with Band of Assassins and Revenge sharing a disc, and Resurrection on its own separate disc, with the following supplements:

Disc One (Band of Assassins / Revenge)

• Shozo Ichiyama (HD; 14:05) is a really interesting piece which features the Program Director of the Tokyo International Film Festival discussing the life and work of director Satsuo Yamamoto, including an emphasis on the Shinobi series. Ichiyami mentions Yamamoto's relatively few period films, but his overall interest in highlighting travails of the so-called "common man". There's some interesting sidebar information about what was going on at various Japanese film studios during the general timeframe of the production of these films. Subtitled in English.

Disc Two (Resurrection)

• A Brief History of Japanese Ninja Films (HD; 18:11) is an indispensable aid by Mance Thompson which helps to explain the context of these films within the history of the Japanese movie industry in general.


• Toshiaki Sato (HD; 14:18) discusses the life and career of Raizo Ichikawa, which is yet another fascinating "tragic life of a movie star" story. Subtitled in English.


• Trailers

  Shinobi: Band of Assassins (HD; 2:19)

  
  

  Shinobi 2: Revenge (HD; 2:19)

  
  

  Shinobi 3: Resurrection (HD; 2:31)

Additionally, Radiance has packaged this release nicely, with a handsome yellow slipbox enclosing two keepcases. One keepcase encloses a very nicely appointed insert booklet with new and archival writing, while the other keepcase encloses six postcards. Radiance includes its Obi strip on the slipbox.

Band of Assassins Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Shinobi: Band of Assassins gets this series underway with whatever the ninja equivalent of a bang is, and it sets up some of the central conflicts that will continue to inform the next two films artfully and really rather concisely, all things considered. Technical merits are generally solid (video probably a bit more than audio), and the supplements very appealing. Recommended.