The night feels strange for a Japan Ground Self-Defense Force unit out on maneuvers during a war games exercise. Nearly two dozen troops, along with a tank and a helicopter, wait on a beach for a rendezvous when the dawn sky turns psychedelic. Even their leader Lieutenant Yoshiaki Iba (Sonny Chiba, The Street Fighter), can’t make sense of what’s happening. Arrows suddenly rain down on the soldiers without warning. They have slipped back in time 400 years and find themselves surrounded by a samurai army. Can their modern weapons withstand the ancient attackers?
What We Thought:
G.I. Samurai is a Sonny Chiba film I always thought I had seen, but turns out, I hadn’t. I thought I had seen it because it has a similar plot to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III with current characters being transported hundreds of years into Japan’s past.
Chiba plays the leader of a Japanese SDF force which finds itself sent back in time along with a tank, boat, helicopter and other weaponry. As the soldiers are trying to figure out that they’ve slipped in time, arrows come flying at them. They piece together they’ve traveled to the past and must team up with a group of samurai or be wiped out by others.
Chiba is great in the role as usual and the film is pretty fun. Seeing current weaponry going against swords and arrows makes for a neat plot device especially when you’re talking about iconic fighters like samurai. Chiba was already well established at this point and dominates the screen. Even in a fish-out-of-water scenario, he’s very capable and very much leading man material. He’s believable as a military leader and believable as a man in that time period.
G.I. Samurai is pretty cool. It’s a period piece, but with a twist. It has the costuming and styling of a Japanese Samurai flick, but also the fighting and action of a war movie. Chiba fans will eat it up and is a must own for collectors as it makes its North American Blu-ray debut. It comes as both the original Japanese version and as the English-langue cut. If you are a Chiba fan or fan of film, this release is highly recommended.
Special features include the original lossless Japanese mono and 4.0 stereo surround audio, and remixed 5.1 surround audio; optional newly translated English subtitles; two optional viewing modes via seamless branching: the original Japanese version or the uncut English-language version titled Time Slip, with lossless English mono audio; a brand new audio commentary by Samm Deighan and Tom Mes; an introduction by Japanese film specialist Mark Schilling; an appreciation by author Matt Alt; a discussion of the film by authors and film critics Masaaki Nomura and Tatsuya Masuto; archival cast and crew interviews with Sonny Chiba, Isao Natsuyagi, Hiromitsu Suzuki, Kamayatsu Monsieur, Jun Eto, and Isao Kuraishi; original theatrical trailers; an image gallery; and a collectors’ booklet.
The Nerds Templar 