LUPIN III: DRAGON OF DOOM (1994)

 

PHENOMENALITY: *marvelous*
MYTHICITY: *poor*
FRYEAN MYTHOS: *comedy*
CAMPBELLIAN FUNCTION: *cosmological, psychological*

I believe this Lupin TV-movie, DRAGON OF DOOM, was meant to be a comedy, but in truth, it's one of the least funny ones I've seen so far.

The setup sounds like it might be fairly Lupin-centric. Crime-boss Chin Chin Chu engages the Lupin Gang to go hunting treasure in the sunken shell of the Titanic, and Lupin is particularly interested in doing so, because his ancestor Arsene Lupin had planned to rip off the Titanic at some point, only to be frustrated by the ship's destruction.

However, the Lupin part of the plot proves minor, and both Jigen and Fujiko have only nominal roles. (Fujiko's betrayal of her fellow burglars is so predictable, I just wanted it to be over quickly.) DRAGON turns out to be centered upon the background and concerns of Goemon the samurai with the blade that can cut metal.

Most of the LUPIN shows I've seen don't expatiate upon the nature of Goemon's sword, but DRAGON is explicit in claiming that the blade was forged in the early 20th century by a master Japanese blacksmith, out of some rare super-metal. However, the blacksmith also crafted a dragon-statuette of the same metal, but the statue was stolen and placed on the Titanic for resale elsewhere. Chin, who's served by a team of ninjas, wants that metal for the usual nefarious reasons. 

However, Goemon's not on the side of his homeboys this time. He's been contacted by a childhood friend, Kikyo, who's also become a ninja, though apparently on the side of the angels. She wants to keep the dragon-statue out of Chin's hands, and Goemon's nostalgic (though probably non-romantic) feelings for the young woman cause him to attempt getting the item from Lupin's group. But Kikyo's got her own agenda, and it ties in with the fact that her ancestor was the ones who stole the statue in the first place.

Goemon's scenes with Kikyo include some strong sentiment, though the vagueness about Goemon's exact feelings for her weaken the drama a little. The samurai has a good scene slicing a plane in half, but the only strong scene for the other members of the ensemble is one when Chin imprisons them in a room filled with "madness gas," so that Jigen fights with Goemon and Fujiko attacks Lupin. Lupin manages to save the day there, though. However, his defeat of a "boss ninja," ostensibly to save Goemon the trouble, is underwhelming.