Much like the film Jipangu from 1990, Sword of Alexander is a fast paced action comedy that makes fun of the samurai genre as much as it honors it. The film mixes genres quite liberally although one wouldn't expect spaceships and aliens in a period drama at all.
The story follows an unkempt swordsman hero as he wields the over-sized Sword of Alexander the Great protecting a princess and keeping his magic sword out of the clutches of the Shogun and an evil alien who has crash landed in Japan.
That's not all the plot details but I think it's probably enough to give an idea how this film goes. The film is very funny and a good amount of action influenced by HK cinema. The special effects are unrealistic and intentionally humorous. The characters are interesting and the hero is unique in Japanese cinema as far as I know. He is the son of a African man and a Japanese woman. The aliens aren't the only weirdness in the story, a number of other villains are demons with odd powers. The acting is over the top but that goes with the wacky story. The movie has only one unfortunately out of place joke at the end but otherwise it's a lot of fun. Several movie references will be obvious but some of the cameos might be mysterious to non-Japanese audiences.
Recommended.
The story follows an unkempt swordsman hero as he wields the over-sized Sword of Alexander the Great protecting a princess and keeping his magic sword out of the clutches of the Shogun and an evil alien who has crash landed in Japan.
That's not all the plot details but I think it's probably enough to give an idea how this film goes. The film is very funny and a good amount of action influenced by HK cinema. The special effects are unrealistic and intentionally humorous. The characters are interesting and the hero is unique in Japanese cinema as far as I know. He is the son of a African man and a Japanese woman. The aliens aren't the only weirdness in the story, a number of other villains are demons with odd powers. The acting is over the top but that goes with the wacky story. The movie has only one unfortunately out of place joke at the end but otherwise it's a lot of fun. Several movie references will be obvious but some of the cameos might be mysterious to non-Japanese audiences.
Recommended.