In the 1500s, a Japanese swordsman is killed trying to save a woman from her own execution. He falls into a frozen lake with an arrow in his side.
Centuries later, modern day, a couple hikers discover his body in an ice cave. His body is shipped to Los Angeles, presumably for a standard autopsy. Except the doctors / scientists there want to give him the deluxe package, and attempt to bring him back to life.
Their attempt is successful. As you might expect, it’s a bit of a shock for him to wake up in the 20th century. He comes to trust one of the people who is on the team, not a doctor but a woman who is a specialist in Japanese history. But, some dipshit orderly tries to steal his swords and pays the price for it. The swordsman doesn’t necessarily see this as an opportunity to escape the hospital, but he does sneak out and finds himself walking around the streets of LA. All he’s ever known is the Japanese countryside with farms and horses, and now he stands at the foot of downtown LA, under giant skyscrapers and helicopters and cars and 18-wheelers and modern society.
So now he’s out wandering the streets, the cops are after him for murder, the head doctor guy doesn’t want to get involved and just wants the cops to handle it, but the one woman who befriended him in the hospital wants to go out and find him and hopefully bring him back to safety, because the streets of LA are definitely not safe, for him nor for the people who he meets.
It’s a short movie at an hour 20, which is nice because it doesn’t waste any time getting going. There is some particularly offensive or racist or unacceptable by today’s standards terms used for Asian people. It’s part of the plot, I guess, but just be forewarned if that’s something you want to avoid.
But the movie itself is pretty good. High def transfer looks great and sounds great. Because it’s short, it doesn’t have time to get too complicated. Probably better this way. This certainly isn’t the only movie with this same exact story. I don’t know if this was the first of them or one of the copycats, but either way, it’s a perfectly enjoyable hour and 20 minutes. Most of it is generally PG-13, but a couple of the kill shots (knife to the eye, severed arm) are definitely R territory. No nudity, no vulgarity.
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