The Last of UsandThe Mandalorianare not only two of the most highly acclaimed series of the last few years, but they both also owe a ton to the classic shogun film seriesLone Wolf and Cub. These movies, likeLast of UsandMandalorian, follow a sad, grizzled man and child as they travel great distances, coming in contact with an assortment of villains, side quests, and shady allies. WithLone Wolf and Cub, these miscellaneous adventures across Japan are packed to the brim with loads of blood-soaked battles, goofy interactions between an assassin and his son, and a healthy dose of brutal face-offs with the deadly Yagyū clan. For fans of these recent series, theLone Wolf and Cubfilms are the perfect next step in this touching-yet-badass corner of genre films.
What is ‘Lone Wolf and Cub’?
TheLone Wolf and Cubfilm series is adapted from the 1970s manga of the same name, created by writerKazuo Koikeand artistGoseki Kojima. The six films follow an assassin, Ogami Ittō (Tomisaburo Wakayama), and his son, Daigoro (Akihiro Tomikawa), as the two travel through the Japanese countryside during the Edo period (between 1603 and 1867). The two wander from job to job, regularly encountering the Yagyū clan, a group of spies, samurai, and shogun, who murdered Ogami’s wife in cold blood. Devastated by the loss of his wife, Ogami has gone stone-cold, one who only shows any sense of emotion or affection for his son. Their chronicles might be solemn, lonesome ventures, but they also happen to be some of the most fun action films in history.
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‘Lone Wolf and Cub’ is a Pillar of Action Cinema
If we’re talking pre-1980s, your pick of action movies that are genuinely thrilling is relatively minimal. Films like theDollarstrilogy,The Dirty Dozen, andThe Wild Bunchcan absolutely claim their given fun factor, but the 1980s are truly when the kinetic energy in action films would be universally and uniformly cranked up. TheLone Wolf and Cubseries should absolutely be credited for its contributions to innovating the genre.
These films are ridiculously fast-paced! Hardly a moment is ever wasted. All in just over 80 minutes, these six films jump back and forth between quick-cut sword fights, passionate declarations of vengeance, and bombastic funk soundtracks that’ll keep your head bobbing as you travel along with the duo through the countryside. You can always count on Ogami to cut down a number of oncoming enemies, ones who never fail to freeze in place after being stabbed, then spray insane amounts of blood literallyeverywherein the most glorious, cartoonish fashion. Stunts and camera trickery also manage to capture the performers’ unrealistically grandiose jumps and barrel rolls in ways that never feel believable, but they’re not supposed to. It’s a heightened, comic book-y world that these folks are wandering through, made to give you the fastest 80 minute rides of your life. TheLone Wolf and Cubmovies don’t pretend to be anything that they aren’t. They’re pure, lean, and mean fun.
The Episodic Nature of These Stories
Being a six-film series, you might feel as though diving intoLone Wolf and Cubmight be more of a commitment than you’re bargaining for. This couldn’t be further from the truth! Despite having the same central characters and setting as a through-line, the plots of these movies are ultimately told in an episodic fashion. Sure, each film follows Ogami and Daigoro as they evade the Yagyū clan and their leader, Retsudo (Minoru Ōki), but they find their own identities with smaller details along the way. On one hand, theLone Wolf and Cubseries can feel kind of like watching the same movie over and over again, but if they’re your thing, then these movies are the ultimate comfort watch. It’s like if you’re a Bond fan. You pop in to see what kind of trouble 007 will get into next, not to watch James deal with his home life one movie, then go save the world the next. These movies are meant to play a bit safe. They’re easy to go into because you know what to expect!
The first season ofThe Mandalorianisn’t that far off from this format. It’s a show that follows Din Djarin (Pedro Pascal) and Grogu as they evade the forces coming after them in every episode. You have to have a throughline though, one that acts as the base for each episode so that we can meet all sorts of new aliens and visit different fascinating worlds. The threats and general beats of each episode typically amount to a different variation of the same thing every time, but it’s the ways that the filmmakers shake this format up every time that keeps things interesting and exciting to come back to.Lone Wolf and Cubdoes the same, with Ogami and Daigoro fighting different assets of the Yagyū clan in new and interesting locations in each film. Sometimes these battles take place in a forest, the desert, or the snow. These pit our boys up against samurai, shogun, spies, and even bite-sized armies, depending on the film. Father-and-son-on-the-road type stories hook you by manipulating your love for their central characters, making you wonder how they’ll get out of trouble with each new entry.
The Lone Man at the Center - Ogami
Ogami and his son, Daigoro, are also the clear templates for Din Djarin and Grogu, or Rick (also Pedro Pascal) and Ellie (Bella Ramsey). Ogami is the same kind of beaten and battered middle-aged man that Din and Rick are. He’s faced enough hardships to turn him off from really being much of an emotive one, favoring a more solemn and firm tone. If there ever was one to turn Ogami into a bit of a softy, I’m being generous there, it’s Daigoro.
The Most Badass Kid of All Time - Daigoro
Daigoro is reflected well in both Grogu and Ellie, but sort of as two sides of the same coin. He’s got the goofy, silly, wide-eyed aspects of Grogu’s character, but alsothe hard edge of Ellie. He hardly,hardlyever says anything, so we never really know what’s going on inside his head, unless he makes one of his many incredibly expressive faces. He’s absolutely the comic relief of theLone Wolf and Cubseries, but make no mistake, when Daigoro means business, all he’s gotta do is give you that death stare. That’s when you know it’s about to go down. What other kid mans a machine gun inside a baby cart and mows down hoards of enemies? Daigoro does. He’s the most badass kid in film history.
If you’re a fan ofThe MandalorianandThe Last of Us, and you’re looking for your next big fix,Lone Wolf and Cubis right there waiting for you. These six movies go down way easier than most. In just over 80 minutes, you’ll be bombarded with some of the most killer action that movies have to offer, bangin' funk soundtracks, gorgeous scenery, and a touching father-son relationship at the center of it all. For all the killing and thrilling battles that inhabit these movies, it’s really Ogami and Daigoro that have kept folks coming back in the decades since. Much like the works that it inspired,Lone Wolf and Cubdoesn’t achieve its thrills purely because of some sort of masterful execution of basic genre tropes, it’s because of how much we care for the two titular heroes. Everything else follows suit.
