Samurai Fury Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		5.0
Audio		5.0
Extras		0.5
Overall		3.0

Samurai Fury Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman October 28, 2025

Even those not particularly enamored of major historical events have probably heard of the Potato Famine that afflicted Ireland for really a relatively short period (only around seven years), but which had a cascading domino effect not just on Irish history, but in fact our entire globe. Probably much less widely known is a somewhat shorter crisis in Japan known as the Kanshō Famine, which lasted around two years in the mid 15th century. That historical context provides some background for Samurai Fury, a film which traffics in any number of well worn tropes, including the hoary conceit of longtime friends who end up on opposite sides of a conflict, but which offers a sumptuous production design and a rather surprisingly effective lead performance from Yo Oizumi as a real life rōnin named Hasuda Hyoe. Apparently Hyoe is not even that well remembered in Japan, but he was the focal hero of a 2016 novel by Ryosuke Kakine which posited Hyoe as a quasi Robin Hood, or, given this film's "ethnicity", perhaps a precursor to the 16th century's Goemon (the link points to an old FUNimation release, but there are a ton of other films and even franchises featuring Goemon or Goemon-adjacent characters, including the Shinobi series put out by Radiance Films). Often what might be generally termed Asian historical epics require some kind of knowledge to fully understand them, but given the fact that Hyoe seems not to be an overly recognized character, that might suggest that Samurai Fury (which was originally titled Muromachi Outsiders for its theatrical exhibition in Japan) is a more immediately "accessible" narrative.

It's almost impossible not to recognize contemporary socioeconomic echoes of the basic storyline presented here, wherein the (seemingly literally) unwashed masses are dying in untold numbers due to the scarcity of food and other ostensible necessities, while a corrupt Shogunate and the ruling class live the high life. In what might be jokingly called The Dirty Dozen minus three, Hyoe puts together a motley crew of, well, pretty dirty looking rebels who want to bring the moral turpitude to the end. Suffice it to say that much as with that now long ago American action epic, the heroes have criminal backgrounds (including Hyoe), though in just one of several undeniable clichés the story offers, this nonet has at least a semblance of a moral compass guiding them. Hyoe's erstwhile friend Honekawa Doken (Shinichi Tsutsumi) ends up in charge of the Shogun's forces, in yet another often utilized plot device (evidently Doken is also a real life historical figure).

There's really no surprise to the overall arc of the tale, though the body count is rather spectacular by the time things come to a rather bloody conclusion. What provides color here is both a really handsome (if intentionally gritty) production design and especially some of the interactions between the ragtag group of would be "justice league"-ers, which includes (in yet another well worn plot device) individuals with their own "particular set of skills", which of course come into play as various combat scenarios play out. While the film is arguably too long at well over two hours, the pace is actually rather brisk throughout, elevated by recurrent action interludes.

One thing I personally found commendable and which may reflect back interestingly to the above information about Hyoe not being an overly recognized figure even in his native land, is the fact that this particular epic doesn't stop every few seconds to offer superimposed titles introducing each character and how they fit into things, a "technique" that can frankly regularly interrupt viewing in my estimation. Probably because this is such an ultimately basic storyline, such conceits are thankfully unnecessary.

Samurai Fury Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Samurai Fury is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Well Go USA with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.39:1. The IMDb lists several cameras, all of which evidently have source captures of at least 4K (in some instances it looks like 6K), which then makes a 2K DI kind of odd (especially since the IMDb lists a 4K upscale for the DCP, which I frankly don't think I've ever seen before on that database's technical specs pages). While I'd recommend those interested in this feature to opt for Well Go USA's 4K UHD release (which does not include a 1080 disc), this 1080 presentation is rather stunning on its own merits, though both detail levels and palette do see some changes in the 4K version. Fine detail is typically excellent throughout, with the possible exception of some "artier" framings in battle scenes, and textures on everything from costumes to natural environments tend to look fantastic. The palette is rather interesting and is often almost relatively bland at times, with an emphasis on beiges, browns and other similar tones in some of the outdoor material in particular. That said, there are some very vivid pops of color not just with regard to the costumes and sets in particular, but perhaps a bit comically with regard to the copious amounts of bloodshed that are ultimately offered. Despite some very dense battle scenes that also have added dust and the like, I noticed no compression anomalies.

Samurai Fury Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Samurai Fury features Japanese Atmos and an English dub in DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (Dolby Digital 2.0 tracks in both languages are available). While the 5.1 track has ample surround activity, there's no question that the Atmos track provides a more immersive listening experience, especially in some of the calamitous combat footage. While Yoshihiro Ike's score also gets a really nicely spacious accounting in both surround tracks, what actually struck me as somewhat funny, though, was how a motif utilized is a virtual carbon copy of Monty Norman's inimitable 007 theme, replete with the minor, minor b6, minor6 progression that will be immediately recognized by many. Then things head off into an almost Ennio Morricone direction, though there are also some uses of ethnic instruments that recalled some of the lush sonorities offered in Hans Zimmer's memorable work on The Last Samurai. The battle scenes also offer some reverberant bursts of LFE. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout. Optional English and French subtitles are available.

Samurai Fury Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Trailer (HD; 1:54)

Note: As tends to be the case with Well Go USA Blu-ray releases, the disc has been authored to automatically move on to trailers for other Well Go USA releases after the trailer for this film plays. Those trailers for other Well Go USA releases also play automatically at disc boot up.

Packaging features a slipcover.

Samurai Fury Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

This period of Japanese history seems especially fraught, which is saying something considering how many other epic films have been built on the nation's calamitous conflicts. That said, Samurai Fury seems to be highly fictionalized, and it suffers from an overuse of convenient clichés which, while the cinematic equivalent of comfort food, similarly don't provide much actual nourishment. Still, there's a lot to look at and listen to here. Technical merits are solid for those who may be considering making a purchase.