Lone Samurai (2025) – Review

Quick Thoughts:

1. Cannibal beach fight!
2. Cinematographer Noah Greenberg does a fine job capturing the beauty of the Indonesian locations
3. A badass samurai + a remote island + cannibals = A good time
4. It’s pretty much three movies in one. Don’t expect nonstop chaos. 
5. The fight choreography by Yandi Sutisna (The Night Comes for Us), Erik Rukmanila (Beyond Skyline) and Rama Ramadhan (The Raid: Redemption) is wonderful. I like knowing that executive producer Iko Uwais is handing out opportunities to young stunt choreographers. 

I love movies that feature problems on top of problems, and Lone Samurai is a great example of a lone samurai having a terrible time on a remote island. Here’s why.

1. Riku (Shogen), a badass samurai, gets stranded on an island because a tsunami broke out during a sea battle with a Mongolian armada. 
2. When he wakes up on the island, he learns that he has a hunk of wood stuck in his leg AND his sword is broken in half.
3. The guy is tired, dehydrated, injured and weaponless. 
4. After regaining his strength (and becoming cool with the local Komodo Dragon populace), he decides to build a shrine on top of the tallest mountain on the island.
5. After building the shrine, he’s knocked unconscious by a cannibal.
6. He’s imprisoned deep inside a cave system and is third in line to be eaten by the cannibals
7. One of the cannibals is played by Yayan Ruhian (The Raid, The Raid 2, John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum, Boy Kills World, Skylines, Beyond Skyline, Yakuza Apocalypse, Merantau). Yayan is probably the last person a movie character would want to fight. 
8. After escaping, the lone samurai has to battle a gang of cannibals who are really tough. There is a henchman named Bone Thin (Faisal Rachman – a breakdancer and martial artist), who looks like he belongs in Only the Strong (watch it now). 
9. The final villain is named Boar (Rama Ramadhan), and he’s a cannibal tank.
10. If Riku wins, he’s still stranded on an island….

The best thing about Lone Samurai is that it takes you to some unexpected places. I normally hate comparing movies to other movies, but it’s like Bone Tomahawk, Apocalypto, 13 Assassins, Cast Away, The 13th Warrior, and a samurai film were dropped into a Vitamix and blended into a unique action-horror film that ends with a beach fight. Director Josh C. Waller came up with the “Samurai on an island” narrative after seeing a lone fisherman standing knee-deep in the water on the north shore of Oahu. He initially wanted the film to be an “entirely silent” journey that subverted tropes and featured things audiences had never seen before (according to the press notes). However, after learning that an entirely silent film wouldn’t get much funding, he edited the script and managed to cobble together some money for his experimental film. Filming on Oahu would’ve been too expensive, so he found Indonesian shooting locations and recruited the talented Team Uwais for all the fights and stunts. 

Waller’s experience as a producer most certainly helped stretch the budget, as his work on Mandy, Color Out of Space, A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night, and The Greasy Strangler proves he can churn out great-looking films on a budget. Waller pulled together a solid group of contributors to help him make movie magic. What’s interesting is that production was rough as he had to fire his art department, recast actors, and change the way he directs (he said he was way too “intense” on his crew). The end result is a neat experimental film that ends with a 30-minute beach brawl.

Final thoughts – Watch it. Enjoy the beach brawl.