Sengoku jieitai 1549 (a.k.a. "Samurai Commando Mission 1549") is a rewriting of the 1979 piece starring "Sonny Chiba" and produced by the same Kadokawa company. An SDF (Self-Defense Force) unit is blown back to 1549, the age of warring states, where its leader Matoba (Takeshi Kaga) decides to live as warrior. Two years later, SDF finds out what happened, and sends a rescue team consisting of Kashima (Yosuke Eguchi), Matoba's ex- lieutenant and now retired, joining the team as "observer", and Kanzaki (Ms. Kyoka Suzuki) who was responsible for that accident. Black holes are erupting. They have only 74 hours to "do something" about Matoba who they found out had feigned himself as Nobunaga (a historical figure who came close to unifying Japan) who wanted to "change future" with his SDF technology. Defeated, Kashima's group finds an ally in a kid called Tosuke, who was later to become the historical figure who unified Japan, and the real Nobunaga who had been with them from 2005. Compared to the 1979 Sengoku, where the SDF unit's only course was "fight to death", the 2005 Sengoku is quite positive in approach. It depicts how the characters did their best in living instead of dying and this includes Matoba despite his sinister scheme. Yosuke Eguchi, very tall, has starred in TV dramas playing wide- ranging roles. Veterans Takeshi Kaga and Kyoka Suzuki provide solid acting. The film marks departure from conventional jidaigeki (films set in samurai days). The cast is an example; another example is non-use of the Kyoto theatrical combatants. These have succeeded in making the film a pure entertainment piece, without the traditional fetters and samurai BS like "dying to live".
Notes & explanations (added 6/30/'05)
1) "Sengoku jieitai 1549" is going to be one of the "trilogy" (or more) based on novels written by Harutoshi Fukui, with the other two being "Lorelei: The Witch of the Pacific Ocean" (2005) and the upcoming "AEGIS", though these three films were directed, produced and distributed by different entities. It is not a remake of the 1979 Sengoku but more Fukui's original, inspired, perhaps, by the 1979 movie.
2) "Kyoto theatrical combatants": These are a group of stunt men called "ta'te" who belong to (Toei Company's) Kyoto studio. They are experts at getting killed in jidaigeki samurai dramas. Most jidaigeki dramas and films rely on them to save choreography time and money. But the result is that you always see the same people getting killed in different dramas and movies. By the time "Sonny" (Shin'ichi) Chiba starred in the 1979 "Sengoku", he disliked this idea, and had formed JAC (Japan Action Club). The principal members then included Etsuko Shihomi, who's starred in some "Hissatsu ken / Sister Street Fighter" series (1974-1975)(and also in "Shanhai bansukingu" (1984) and "Nidaime wa Christian" (1985) in which she doesn't kick anybody). I suppose the producers of "Sengoku jieitai 1549" agreed with Chiba in not using these stunt men. Using them would've made the film "another of those jidaigeki".
Notes & explanations (added 6/30/'05)
1) "Sengoku jieitai 1549" is going to be one of the "trilogy" (or more) based on novels written by Harutoshi Fukui, with the other two being "Lorelei: The Witch of the Pacific Ocean" (2005) and the upcoming "AEGIS", though these three films were directed, produced and distributed by different entities. It is not a remake of the 1979 Sengoku but more Fukui's original, inspired, perhaps, by the 1979 movie.
2) "Kyoto theatrical combatants": These are a group of stunt men called "ta'te" who belong to (Toei Company's) Kyoto studio. They are experts at getting killed in jidaigeki samurai dramas. Most jidaigeki dramas and films rely on them to save choreography time and money. But the result is that you always see the same people getting killed in different dramas and movies. By the time "Sonny" (Shin'ichi) Chiba starred in the 1979 "Sengoku", he disliked this idea, and had formed JAC (Japan Action Club). The principal members then included Etsuko Shihomi, who's starred in some "Hissatsu ken / Sister Street Fighter" series (1974-1975)(and also in "Shanhai bansukingu" (1984) and "Nidaime wa Christian" (1985) in which she doesn't kick anybody). I suppose the producers of "Sengoku jieitai 1549" agreed with Chiba in not using these stunt men. Using them would've made the film "another of those jidaigeki".