Watch Lone Wolf and Cub: Baby Cart at the River Styx For Free

One of my all time favorites.

I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

The Lone Wolf and Cub series was co-produced by Shintaro Katsu--the same man who played the lovable Zatoichi in so many films. While there are clear similarities between the two series, the Lone Wolf and Cub series will not be mistaken for the Zatoichi films because they are clearly much more adult and more morally ambiguous. In the first Lone Wolf and Cub film, I was actually rather put off by this. The rapes, excessive violence and an unlikable main character made this tough viewing for me--especially when I would have been just as happy with yet another Zatoichi type film. Fortunately, while this second installment is still clearly an adult film, it has been toned down in some ways and was a lot more enjoyable to me. Now when I say 'toned down', I am referring to the main character. He is less an anti-hero and more decent in this film. In one scene it appears as if he's going to rape a woman but has no apparent intention to do this. Also the enemy are clearly bad and it was easy to root for Ogami Itto in his two major conflicts.The film begins with the clan who is trying to destroy Ogami approaching a group of rather intense female ninjas for their help. In this initial scene, I was stoked--the women seemed nuts and practically were killing machines--a nice match-up for the film. Bizarrely, however, these insane killers turned out to be amazingly easy for Ogami to defeat--and as a result it seemed anti-climactic. Fortunately, another plot appeared involving three super-macho assassins and the secret that might destroy a clan. When the clan hires Ogami to kill the three and the man who is trying to betray his clan you can understand Ogami's need to kill them--and it sets up a great finale.Be forewarned that although this movie has less nudity and is in some ways tamer than the first film, it clearly surpasses it in blood. I have never seen a Japanese film with more blood spraying in all my life--and this includes the super-bloody Zatoichi film made by Beat Takeshi a few years back! Oddly, some of the killing and gore was done by Ogami's tiny son in this installment!! As a result, you'd only be insane if you showed the film to kids--even if there are no rapes and the leading man is less of a jerk. No, this is an adult-oriented film--and an extremely bloody and entertaining one at that.By the way, if you like to see mistakes, watch the bathtub scene. During this scene the water level goes up and down repeatedly--indicating it was pieced together (poorly) from several takes.

This probably is the best and most entertaining movies out of all the Kozure Ôkami movies. If you already thought that the first movie was action packed, wait until you see this one.It's not just more action filled or entertaining but it's also a better done film as well. The directing and cinematography and all, all seems better in this movie. There are some great looking and wonderfully done sequences and I'm not even talking about the fight sequences then. The movie is basically non-stop entertaining action in which Ogami Itto takes on more bad guys and gals than ever before. He is still as skilled as ever, so often it doesn't take more than one strike with his sword to kill off his opponent. It doesn't mean the fights are boring though. Far from it really. They are greatly choreographed and very over-the-top. It's amazing, the innovativeness they came up with at times. Of course there also still is plenty of blood in this one, when blood sprays out of every wound that gets inflected in this movie.Great entertaining fun!9/10http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/

In this, the second in the Lone Wolf and Cub series, ronin Ogami Itto (Tomisaburo Wakayama) and his son Daigoro (Akihiro Tomikawa) continue to wander the land as assassins for hire, all the while keeping an eye out for members of the nasty Ragyu clan, who want them dead.When the wealthy Awa clan approach Itto, offering him 500 gold pieces to kill a man who might be able to ruin them financially, he accepts; in order to complete his mission, he must face many dangers, including a team of vicious female warriors, and the highly skilled Hidari brothers, also known as the Gods of Death.Baby Cart at the River Styx sees director Kenji Misumi delivering a breathtaking sequel to his excellent Sword of Vengeance. Like a Japanese Sergio Leone, he once again uses extreme close-ups, rapid zooms, sparing use of a haunting soundtrack, and superbly choreographed violence to continue his epic tale of a man and boy on a gore-spattered journey through 'hell'.From the opening scene in which Itto quickly dispatches of two Yagyu clansmen, through to the stunning climax which sees Lone Wolf and Cub battling the Hidaris in a desert, this film is a stunning and often beautiful display of carnage. Battles take place in complete silence, with the vanquished always taking a second or two before they fall to the ground, blood gushing from their wounds. Daigoro also gets in on the act, activating spring-loaded blades in his cart to slice off the feet of the enemy. Misumi's handling of these scenes is superb, with some great use of innovative and ground-breaking visual techniques (one great fight scene has images superimposed onto each other to give the action a surreal and dreamlike quality).But it's not all mindless violence. There are occasional moments of tenderness too, with the close bond between father and son displayed in a couple of notable scenes: Ogami gently bathes Daigoro, with one hand on his sword in readiness for trouble; and Daigoro nurses his injured father back to health, trading his jacket for food.My only gripe with Baby Cart at the River Styx is that the film is often very dark, and it was extremely hard to see what was going on, particularly during the many night scenes. Whilst this may be due to my DVD being a bad transfer, it did affect my enjoyment of the film (I had to re-watch the gory dismemberment of one unfortunate shinobi at the hands of the female ninjas with my TV's brightness and contrast whacked right up), which is why I give it slightly less than Sword of Vengeance—7.5/10 (although I have to round my rating up to 8 for IMDb, which technically puts it on a par with the first one).

These movies were infamous for their incredibly brutal and bloody swordplay sequences, but equally impressive IMHO was the leading actor- Tomisaburo Wakayama a.k.a. "Lone Wolf" was surely the greatest martial arts star ever. The command and authority with which he wielded a sword (and other weapons) was just phenomenal. The blade truly was an extension of himself, and his use of it was the definition of lethal, with none of the unnecessary/show-off flourishes so desperately thrown about by today's wannabes. He had incredible presence and charisma- easily on a par with the likes of say Eastwood or Bronson- with eyes that reflected pure death, and the desolation in his soul. There were moments in the "Babycart" series where you'd swear he was the personification of his namesake, the Wolf. You never doubted for one second that he WAS shogun executioner, masterless samurai, assassin for hire. One look at him in action, and you could readily understand why his enemies trembled at the mention of his name, and ran from him in sheer terror. Alas, Lone Wolf is one with void now, but his legend will live on forever in these films. Forget Toshiro Mifune. Forget Takakura Ken. Forget Sonny Chiba. Forget Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan, Jet Li, Donnie Yen, and any of those wire-reliant ballet dancers from Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon. And CERTAINLY forget any American martial artists that you could care to name. Tomisaburo Wakayama was, is, and forever shall be, THE MAN!