The main reason why the original "Lady Snowblood" was such a big exploitation hit (and one of my personal favorites of all time) was because it brought a simplistic and undemanding story in such a fresh and imaginative way! It was the tale of young Yuki, born and raised with the mission to avenge the death of her parents after 20 years of intense sword-fighting trainings, and she fulfilled this mission without keeping anyone alive. So, obviously there was no real reason to come up with a sequel, but since the original became such a success director Toshiya Fujita and leading lady Meiko Kaji were recruited for a follow up film. "Lady Snowblood 2" is a lot less impressive and powerful than the original, likely because the plot is MORE ambitious and the violence is LESS explicit. On the way to her execution for the various murders in her first adventure (37!), Yuki is saved from the hangman's rope by the head of Japan's secret service and forced to serve as a "secret weapon" in the ongoing war with Russia. She's send undercover as the maid of public enemy n° 1 Ransui Tokunaga but she teams up with him against the malicious nationalist forces. The script offers a nice and educational slice of Asian history, but it's a lot less exhilarating. You could admire this film for not further milking out the success of the first, but it lacks a proper story itself. Yuki's character clearly cares less about patriotic issues than she did about her own personal vendetta, and this sadly shows in her fights. There are less ingenious killings and bloodshed to admire and the performances aren't as passionate. Still this film contains several memorable moments as well, most notably the scene where a fat, evil bastard loses both of his eyes after a confrontation with one of Yuki's friends. This scene was unquestionably the inspiration for Elle Driver's cruel fate in Tarantino's "Kill Bill Volume 2". It's a very well made and entertaining film, but don't except another outrageous masterpiece.
