Rurouni Kenshin: Kyoto Inferno (2014)

Plot summary (story synopsis): Government killer Makoto Shishio (Tatsuya Fujiwara) is betrayed by the government and left to burn to death. He miraculously survives with hideous burns. He swears revenge and starts killing policemen in Kyoto.

A desperate government reaches out to legendary retired swordsman Kenshin Himura in Tokyo. Kenshin at first refuses but Shishio sends his men to Tokyo to kill too. Sickened by this, Kenshin reluctantly goes to Kyoto to find Shishio. He goes alone but his lovable sidekick Sagara Sanosuke (Munetaka Aoki, playing a violent version of Seinfeld's Kramer) and pretty girlfriend Kaoru Kamiya (Emi Takei) follow not far behind.

Along the way, he picks up strays in the form of girl thief Misao Makimachi (Tao Tsuchiya) and a recently-orphaned boy. He also fights with, and loses to, Shishio's boyish and creepily polite henchman Seta Sojiro (Ryunosuke Kamiki), who manages to break Kenshin's sword.

Kenshin must now get a replacement sword from the master swordmaker who made his original sword. He has to fight another one of Shishio's men - Cho (Ryosuke Miura) a punk with bleached blond hair - before heading to Kyoto to foil Shishio's plan to burn Kyoto to the ground.

***

Sequel Kyoto Inferno is superior to 2012's Rurouni Kenshin. Keishi Ohtomo directed both movies, but Kyoto Inferno has a stronger storyline, and probably a bigger budget too. The first movie grossed $100 million worldwide, so Warner Bros. likely budgeted more money for the sequel - $30 million (I can't find numbers for the first movie's budget). It certainly shows. The fight choreography, sets and lighting look better, more cinematic. The first movie looked like a TV production.

The first movie had a haphazard plot, trying to establish Kenshin Himura's origin story and showing how he settled down in Kaoru Kamiya's kendo dojo. Kyoto Inferno has a tighter focus on bad guy Makoto Shishio, fewer subplots that go nowhere.

Kenshin's diversions along the way to Kyoto are interesting and don't feel like filler. The supporting characters - both the strays he picks up, and the bad guys he fights - are nicely and quickly fleshed out and feel like real people.

Takeru Satô's portrayal of the pacifist Kenshin has improved. His aw-shucks goofy demeanor in the first movie did not fit Kenshin's retired killer character. He looks more serious in Kyoto Inferno, more believable.

Some gripes: the opening scene where the Kyoto policemen try to hunt Shishio is a bit ridiculous. They handle their bolt-action rifles like they were submachine guns. Director Keishi Ohtomo was probably influenced by seeing today's special forces storm buildings with their MP-5s. A bolt-action rifle is big, heavy and clumsy. You're not going to run around with one held up to your cheek in firing position, peering down the iron sights. Especially at night.

Okay, that's a military nut's nit-pick. More seriously, Shishio calmly walks away from a fight between his henchman and Kenshin. Okay, he's confident that Kenshin will lose. But isn't he at least a bit interested in watching Kenshin fight? This artificial nonchalance is obviously a dramatic device. Making the audience aware of this, throws them out of the story.

But overall this is an entertaining movie. It's difficult to find something new to say in a samurai movie - they have been done to death. Working within these limitations, Kyoto Inferno doesn't break any new ground, but doesn't drown in cliches either.

Warning: this sequel is a two-parter and ends with a cliffhanger. Part two is The Legend Ends.