Overview: G.I. Samurai sees action superstar Sonny Chiba (The Street Fighter) heading the cast in a rip-roaring time-slip action blockbuster in which guns, tanks and helicopters come up against katana-wielding warriors on horseback!

During a routine military exercise, modern-day soldiers led by Second Lieutenant Iba (Chiba) find themselves transported back in time four hundred years to war-torn feudal Japan.

Facing attack by samurai warriors from rival clans, frictions rapidly emerge among these modern-day soldiers, whisked from a time of peace, freed from the strictures of a higher authority and stranded in one of the bloodiest and most decisive periods in Japan’s history.

Based on a novel by Ryo Hanmura and directed by Kosei Saito (Ninja Wars), G.I. Samurai’s epic battle scenes wowed Japanese audiences upon release in 1979 and are now more awe-inspiring than ever in a new 4K restoration by Kadokawa Pictures.

Blu-ray Verdict: Also known in English as Time Slip, G.I. Samurai is an entertaining combo science fiction-samurai adventure film, with appeal for fans of both genres. Sure, it is a rather farfetched story with a squad of modern Japanese soldiers on maneuvers at a remote beach, where at dawn their watches stop and they are transported back to the 16th century. But is has some great composite shots and the special visual effects are used for the transition.

A light tone is established by one of the soldiers’ reaction to the appearance of massed samurai warriors in vintage gear: Is it a festival?. However, the numerous battle scenes are enacted with extremely graphic bloodletting, contrasted with the comic strip nature of the script.

The squad’s leader, Lieutenant Iba (Sonny Chiba) decides somewhat illogically that the only way to return to the modern age is to try to radically change history, thereby causing nature to send them back to their time in order to maintain the status quo. To this end, he teams up with a samurai rebel (Isao Natsuki) to try and defeat the establishment and take over the country.

An extraneous, time-killing subplot has Chiba killing off a group of his own men who have turned renegades and started raping and pillaging the locals on their own. Also pointless is some unresolved crosscutting of a modern girlfriend (Nana Okada) left waiting at a train station. A low comedy rape of a local widow lady could also be removed to the film’s advantage.

The many beautifully staged battles (choreographed by Chiba) are highlighted by the contrast of the old and the new. One delightful swashbuckling scene has samurai Isao Natsuki escaping via rope ladder to a hovering helicopter outside the window after an authentic sword battle with his foes inside a castle.

Ultimately, Chiba overcomes his men’s desire to return to the initial beach and wait for a second time slip. He has become enamored of the freedom to do as one likes in the medieval period and has decided to fight to the end in scenes reminiscent of Sam Peckinpah’s The Wild Bunch; he and his men decimate hundreds of infantry men and samurai with their machine guns, hand grenades and tank.

Finally, superior numbers prevail and all the modern soldiers are killed. This plot twist skillfully avoids the corny second time slip used in other films of this type, such as The Final Countdown.

Chiba and his troupe of players are very effective and film’s technical credits are top-notch. Worth jettisoning is an awful musical score which includes numerous rock ballads (sung mainly in English though the dialog is spoken in Japanese) which clashes harmfully with the action, in my humble opinion. [L.O.]

Bonus Features:
High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentation
Original lossless Japanese mono and 4.0 stereo surround audio, and remixed 5.1 surround audio
Optional newly translated English subtitles
Two optional viewing modes via seamless branching: the original Japanese version or the uncut English-language version titled Time Slip, with lossless English mono audio
Brand new audio commentary by Samm Deighan and Tom Mes
The Good Fight, an introduction by Japanese film specialist Mark Schilling
Acting in Self Defence, an appreciation by Matt Alt, author of Pure Invention: How Japan’s Pop Culture Conquered the World
Back in Time, a discussion of the film by authors and film critics Masaaki Nomura and Tatsuya Masuto
Cast and crew interviews from 2005 with Sonny Chiba, Isao Natsuyagi, Hiromitsu Suzuki, Kamayatsu Monsieur, Jun Eto and Isao Kuraishi
Original theatrical trailers
Image gallery
Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Ilan Sheady
Collector’s booklet featuring new writing on the film by Josh Slater-Williams

Official Purchase Link

www.arrowfilms.com