Kozure Ôkami: Sanzu no kawa no ubaguruma

Disgraced former executioner Ogami Ittō continues his brooding storm through the Japanese countryside, his three-year-old son Daigoro along for the ride in a booby-trapped carriage. Now some distance into their march to vengeance, the pair have drawn so much notoriety that they risk ambush and assassination at every turn. It's not paranoia, either: Ogami dispenses with blade-wielding enemies at nearly every chapter break, downing at least two-dozen men and women before the film is through. The opportunity isn't abused. In true poppy '70s samurai fashion, each challenger (or cluster of challengers) wears a distinct identity and a unique fighting style, like a colorful garden of deadly blossoms. They all bleed day-glo red, though, often in a towering arc of spray that paints landscape and fallen comrade alike. In Baby Cart at the River Styx, for the first time, we see vulnerability from the master swordsman and a little headstrong personality from his young child. We also see uncertainty from a prominent rival, another first, and restraint in the midst of a bloodlust. Some of the fighting is a little awkward, and the formula is threatening to wear thin, but overall this represents a wonderfully stylish, entertaining continuation of the journey that was so well-established in the first film. An excellent genre-definer.