Lone Wolf and Cub: Baby Cart to Hades by Kenji Misumi (1972)
The third Lone Wolf and Cub movie veers back towards arthouse territory thanks to its slower pace, complex plot, and less reliance on gratuitous content. Make no mistake, though, this is still a Lone Wolf and Cub movie, as evidenced by the abundance of arterial spray. This time around, the ever-stoic Ogami Itto — who has yet to crack even the slightest hint of a smile — sacrifices his honor to save a young woman sold into prostitution even as he’s still being pursued by his rivals in the evil Yagyu clan. Along the way, he encounters a former samurai who’s desperate to die with honor and a corrupt ruler. The film’s final battle is a doozy, with the titular baby cart revealing a veritable arsenal of machine guns and cannons. (Historical accuracy be damned here.) At times, director Misumi and writer Kazuo Koike seem to be questioning deconstructing the samurai code of bushido, which holds that a samurai can still be considered honorable even after he tried to cover up rape and murder, as much as uphold and idealize it. The film is far too concerned with spectacle to offer a really thoughtful deconstruction — Harakiri, this most certainly is not — but the moral ambiguity is interesting to consider.
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