The Sword of Alexander (AKA: Taitei No Ken) (DVD) (Japan Version) DVD Region 2

Hiroshi Abe stars as Genkuro Yorozu, a positively enormous, half black man wielding a ridiculously large claymore - a type of two handed sword - that once belonged to Alexander the Great. A disarmingly simple and naive man, Genkuro approaches the world with the sort of wonder you'd see from a child, which seems like it should be at odds with the sort of destructive force he can become when he wishes, but hey: kids like to break stuff, too. Genkuro's sword, as it turns out, is one of three mystical artifacts made of a mysterious outer space alloy and legend has it that whoever can gather all three artifacts together will wield the greatest power in the universe. Genkuro doesn't much seem to care about wielding the ultimate power - hell, he doesn't even care about washing his kimono - but apparently he's the only one.

The Tokugawa shogun has enslaved countless peasants, forcing them to dig for the other two artifacts. A rival princess - the last of her line - and her clan of ninja bodyguards - the key one of whom is played by Ping Pong and Zebraman screenwriter Kankuro Kudo - are desperate to unite the three to preserve their line. A mysterious, strangely effeminate samurai is lurking around the outskirts of the action. The supernaturally powered Arachnid Clan of ninjas - Monk Grin (Riki Takeuchi), the aforementioned locust man, and a lusty woman with ominous hair - want all three to make themselves tyrants over all Japan. And then, of course, there are the battling aliens who crash to earth and take possession of host bodies each hoping to get the artifacts and destroy the other, thus putting an end to a thousand year old war. Yes, this movie has a full on space battle despite being primarily a period set fantasy film. It also has a love scene in which Genkuro and Princess Mai - possessed by an alien spirit - do the deed by putting their fingers in each other's ears. It's that sort of film.

I'm going to appropriate a line here that fellow Twitch-er Canfield once applied to another film: The Sword Of Alexander feels like a film made by very talented people who sat down and drew up a list of everything they wanted to see in a film when they were children and then made that film. Super powered heroes, ridiculously over the top bad guys, an epic quest, gravity defying martial arts, space ships, and more, more, more. There's considerably more than just the kitchen sink in here and it's gloriously goofy fun. Very highly recommended.

by Todd Brown - Twitchfilm.net