Sixteenth century samurai Yoshimitsu (Hiroshi Fujioka) loses his beloved wife (Mieko Kobayashi) to an evil clan and takes an arrow in his side before falling into an icy lake. Four hundred years later his frozen body is found and shipped to a cryosurgical research institute in Los Angeles. Oriental history specialist Chris Welles (Janet Julian) aids arrogant Doctor Alan Richards (John Calvin) as they revive Yoshi. Bewildered and uneasy, Yoshi grows to trust Chris who tries to gently ease him into the modern world. But when a greedy aide tries to steal his valuable samurai swords, Yoshi defends himself and breaks loose onto the mean streets of L.A.
For every Jackie Chan or Jet Li a dozen more Asian action heroes have a tougher time breaking Hollywood. Their options are limited to either thankless supporting roles in a big blockbusters or else leads in low-budget quickies unworthy of their talents. It was sadly the latter case for Japanese star Hiroshi Fujioka, feted in his homeland as the original Kamen Rider (1971). In Japan the popular superhero franchise endures to this day. In fact Fujioka recently reprised his iconic role in the well-received Heisei Rider vs. Showa Rider: Kamen Rider Taisen featuring Super Sentai (2014) with another instalment in the works. Fujioka's Japanese blockbuster roles also included The Submersion of Japan (1973) and E.S.P-Y (1975) along with the fine Hong Kong action-thriller In the Line of Duty 3 (1988) but Ghost Warrior (also known as Swordkill) was his only American film.
Produced by future direct-to-video mogul Charles Band through his Empire Pictures, the short-lived but prolific company behind many of the better Eighties B-pictures like Trancers (1984) and Re-Animator (1985), this plodding, directionless drama is surprisingly solemn and, for the most part, humorless given its outrageous premise. Far from a full-throttle fantasy action flick the tone is more measured, thoughtful and character driven. Not necessarily a bad thing although the plot has no clear goal. Once Yoshi escapes the lab and befriends Willie Walsh (Charles Lampkin), an affable old man ("I served in the Pacific too. No hard feelings") he rescues from muggers, he simply potters around LA where customers at a sushi bar mistake him for Toshirô Mifune (!) and sneering, oddly middle-aged street thugs cast racial slurs before he cuts them down. What action there is proves unremarkable but great photography by Mac Ahlberg and a stirring score from Richard Band, performed by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, were the saving grace of many an Empire production and that is the case here.
Despite the odd choice to omit English subtitles for the Japanese dialogue, Fujioka gives an impassioned, charismatic performance. He sparks well off an engaging Janet Julian the one-time Nancy Drew turned featured player in among others Humungous (1982) and Abel Ferrara's Fear City (1984) and King of New York (1990). The slow building of trust between the two leads is nicely handled by director J. Larry Carroll. Yet it is obvious the filmmakers did not have the budget to do anything worthwhile with their premise. Around the same time John Lone played an unfrozen caveman in Fred Schepisi's similarly-themed, bigger budgeted Iceman (1984). Ghost Warrior seems to have taken its cue from that more 'respectable' mainstream drama and spins a similarly melancholy yarn with a time-displaced hero hopelessly adrift in the modern world, pining for feudal Japan and his lost love. The finale might have been more affecting had the plot had more meat on its bones and not over-reliant on Chris' narration to paper over the cracks. What works in a drama does not necessarily suit a film about a time-displaced samurai leaving Ghost Warrior of minor interest but possibly too gloomy for cult film fans. For a livelier alternative seek out Clarence Fok's loopy Hong Kong time-travel/rom-com/kung fu fantasy Iceman Cometh (1989).
