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Time SlipPOSTED BY JASON FETTERS, December 30, 2012 Share
Way back when I was just out of high school and starting college at HCC, I happened to be at the 1991 Necronomicon, a Sci Fi, horror, and fantasy con, at the DoubleTree Hilton on W. Cypress in Tampa. All I remember was Priers Anthony was one of the guests and my friend, who read fantasy novels, wanted to meet him. Anyway, I found a dealer who was watching a strange Japanese movie showing military men blowing away samurai with machine guns on a small TV. I bought a bad English dub of Akira on videocassette and a cheap copy of that movie called Time Slip. Time Slip didn’t have any subtitles but by watching it you could follow basic parts of the story. For years I was wondering if Time Slip would ever make it to DVD and it has under the US title of G.I. Samurai starring cult star, Sonny Chiba, and it does have subtitles. I decided to watch Time Slip again, mainly for the subtitles, after owning a copy for years.
Time Slip is based on a Sci Fi novel by Ryo Hanmura and it is the story of the Japan Self-Defense Force meeting together on a beach, when something happens to the Earth, causing the soldiers to be transported back in time to Japan’s Warring States period. The modern day army and the feudal samurai come together for the first time. Naturally both sides are curious about the others with the samurai wondering what to make out of tanks, helicopters, and a modern boat. Sonny Chiba is Second Lieutenant Yoshiaki Iba and the man in charge. He tries not to harm the samurai until things escalate beyond his control as one of his men is killed by archers. Then one solider fires a machine gun mounted on a jeep at the samurai, who face off against a modern army. The samurai are quickly mowed down by machine guns and tanks. However, there is no way to replace bullets and grenades and eventually these supplies will run out, forcing the military men to resort to swords and spears.
Lieutenant Iba has many problems to content with as a small group of his men go AWOL. This is due to the culture shock of living in a different time, as well as, the hopelessness of not being able to return to their own time. These men take over a small Navy boat and live like pirates. They slaughter everyone in a nearby village, murdering young and old alike, and take the village girls back to the boat to use for sex. This ticks off Iba and he is forced to deal with these terrible men.
Eventually things heat up as Lieutenant Iba and his remaining men prepare for war against Takeda Shingen. Lord Shingen has archers, samurai on horses, foot soliders, and ninja, who hide under the ground and pop up with shuriken, throwing stars. The modern army has tanks, jeeps, and a helicopter but the fuel supplies are limited with no means of replenishing. So what happens when the samurai battle the army? You have to see it for yourself as Iba does his best to defeat Lord Shingen and his thousands of troops.
Time Slip is an engaging movie about what happens when a group travels through time and must face difficult circumstances. Sonny Chiba is clearly the best actor in the whole movie as he plays the stern but fair Iba. If you have ever wondered how cool it would be to go back to the glorious past, Time Slip is a wakeup call that you are better off where you are. The action sequences are well done and it is interesting to see what the samurai do to combat tanks, those scenes reminded me of the Ewoks batting the Imperial Army in Return of the Jedi.
Time Slip is well worth your time and has something for every movie lover. Time Slip was remade in 2005 and was also a 4-episode series in 2006.
Highly Recommended
5 out of 5 Stars
"The Asian Aperture" is ©2012 by Jason Fetters. All contents of Crazed Fanboy are ©2012 by Nolan B. Canova and Terence Nuzum.
Time Slip
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