AllMovie

Maverick Japanese director Takashi Miike re-teams with longtime writing partner Masa Nakamura (Andromedia, The Bird People of China) for this Western inspired by Sergio Corbucci's violent 1966 classic Django. It's been hundreds of years since the Battle of Dannoura, yet the Genji and Heiki clans are still feuding. In this poor mountain town, there is rumored to be a great hidden treasure. Genji gang leader Yoshitsune is sure that his white-clad warriors will find the treasure first, but Kiyomori and his red-clothed Heike gang aren't about to walk away empty-handed. When a mysterious lone gunman with an incredibly fast trigger finger rolls into town, everyone wonders which gang he will join. As betrayal, deception, and cold-blooded murder become commonplace, the silence of this once-quiet mountain town will be broken by the piercing echo of gunfire and the air will become dense with the smell of death.