Lone Samurai Movie Review: Samurai vs Cannibals

Action-thriller Lone Samurai, which pits the iconic Japanese warrior against a group of indigenous cannibals, fails to deliver.

Riku (Shogen), a 13th-century samurai, becomes stranded on an island after a battle with Mongolian sailors. Believing he is alone with no way to escape, Riku decides to commit Seppuku for an honourable death, when he is captured by a local cannibal tribe led by Boar (Rama Ramahan, of The Night Comes For Us) and assisted by Witch (Yayan Ruhian, of The Raid and Boy Kills World). Watching other prisoners being slaughtered and eaten, Riku channels his fury to escape and vows to kill the entire tribe in retribution.

The premise of Lone Samurai sounds engaging on paper and might work well as a video game, but as a piece of cinema, it is extremely shallow and one-dimensional. None of the characters in the story rises above the common tropes and preconceived ideas we have of the samurai and the cannibal. The samurai is noble and honourable, almost to a fault, while the cannibal is evil, incomprehensible, and their only purpose is to murder and consume people in the most gruesome manner possible. This stereotypical portrayal of these characters becomes increasingly tedious as the film progresses, leaving you with nothing to root for in a hero and nothing to identify with in a villain. Writer and director Josh C. Waller can be commended for making a samurai film in a foreign language to him, but the dialogue is unmemorable and the narrative is far too simple, lacking the depth of the films he is trying to evoke.

The inclusion of some members of the stunt team from The Raid should suggest intense fight choreography, but due to budget constraints and poor blocking, the fights aren’t as compelling as they should be. This is a major issue because the final third of the film consists of one continuous fight scene, so if you don’t keep the audience engaged during the first minute of combat, they are unlikely to remain interested by minute thirty. More refined and well-designed fight choreography could have transformed the shallow plot into a gripping spectacle, much like in The Raid, but the combat here is not nearly as believable or gruesome.

Lone Samurai makes good use of the Indonesian locations, often featuring some spectacular shots in truly beautiful places. The film is shot competently, with good use of the lush green of the forest and the pale blue sky. There is, however, an over-reliance on wide-angle shots, employed in an attempt to capture as much of the natural scenery as possible, but it can become distracting over time. It is also clear that with the final battle taking place on a beach, Waller is attempting to evoke the iconic climax of Samurai III: Duel at Ganryu Island, but it lacks the dynamic and awe-inspiring sunset that makes that finale so compelling. By opting to shoot during the middle of the day (more than likely for budgetary reasons), the scene appears quite flat and dull, in stark contrast to the vibrancy of the first two acts.

If there were a more refined script with three-dimensional characters and properly choreographed fight scenes, Lone Samurai could have been a brilliant modern entry into the ‘Chanbara’ genre. Josh C. Waller has some strong ideas, but the film was never going to rise above the pulpy nature of a ‘Samurai vs Cannibal’ action flick.

Lone Samurai will be released in select US theatres and on digital platforms on December 12, 2025.

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