Hiroyuki Sanada Filmography

The City of Your Final Destination

Actors: Omar Metwally, Anthony Hopkins, Laura Linney, Charlotte Gainsbourg

Synopsis: James Ivory's adaptation of Peter Cameron's The City of Your Final Destination tells the story of how the family of a writer makes sense of their past decades after the author commits suicide. The plot begins when a graduate student approaches the writer's offspring about access to their father's Read More

Rush Hour 3

Actors: Jackie Chan, Chris Tucker, Hiroyuki Sanada, Youki Kudoh, Max von Sydow

Synopsis: In this third installment of the popular action comedy franchise, LAPD Detective James Carter (Chris Tucker) and Chief Inspector Lee (Jackie Chan) book a flight for Europe and prepare to clean up the streets of Paris after discovering that Chinese triads have extended their criminal influence to Read More

Sunshine

Actors: Cillian Murphy, Chris Evans, Rose Byrne, Michelle Yeoh, Hiroyuki Sanada

Synopsis: As the sun begins to dim along with mankind's hope for the future, it's up to a desperate crew of eight astronauts to reach the dying star and re-ignite the fire that will bring life back to planet Earth in a tense, psychological sci-fi thriller that re-teams 28 Days Later director Danny Boyle Read More

The Promise

Actors: Hiroyuki Sanada, Jang Dong-gun, Cecilia Cheung, Nicholas Tse, Liu Ye

Synopsis: Love and war conspire to create a romantic triangle in this lavish historical epic from director Chen Kaige. A young girl who has lost her parents to the violence of war bravely refuses to obey the orders of a warrior's son, and is approached by a spirit who offers her a life of wealth and power Read More

The White Countess

Actors: Ralph Fiennes, Natasha Richardson, Vanessa Redgrave, Hiroyuki Sanada

Synopsis: James Ivory directed this historical drama of a man who has shut himself away from a world he cannot change. Todd Jackson (Ralph Fiennes) is an American expatriate living in Shanghai in the late '30s. While Jackson was once an American diplomat who came to Shanghai with great optimism about Read More

The Twilight Samurai

Actors: Hiroyuki Sanada, Rie Miyazawa, Nenji Kobayashi, Ren Osugi, Mitsuru Fukikoshi

Synopsis: Veteran filmmaker Yoji Yamada -- who is perhaps most famous for cranking out most of the 48 films of the Tora-san series -- directs this good-natured drama set in the waning years of the Edo period (1600-1867). Seibei (Hiroyuki Sanada) is a low-level samurai struggling to get by on stipend of 50 Read More

The Last Samurai

Actors: Tom Cruise, Timothy Spall, Ken Watanabe, Billy Connolly, Tony Goldwyn, Hiroyuki Sanada, Koyuki

Synopsis: Edward Zwick returned to the director's chair for the first time since 1998's The Siege with this sweeping period drama set in 19th-century Japan. After centuries of relying on hired samurai for national defense, the Japanese monarchy has decided to do away with the warriors in favor of a more Read More

Sukedachiya Sukeroku

Actors: Hiroyuki Sanada, Kyoka Suzuki, Takehiro Murata, Tatsuya Nakadai, Shingo Tsurumi

Synopsis: Veteran filmmaker Kihachi Okamoto revives his similarly named 1960s television series about happy-go-lucky avenger-for-hire Sukeroku (Hiroyuki Sanada) who prefers to brandish a wooden pole or a rope rather than a sword. The film opens with Sukeroku returning to his home in the mountainous Joshu Read More

Onmyoji

Actors: Mansai Nomura, Hideaki Ito, Hiroyuki Sanada, Kyoko Koizumi, Eriko Imai

Synopsis: In a time when demons and ghosts threaten to bring total devastation to a powerful kingdom, betrayal from within the powerful ranks of the ruling emperor threatens to bring an entire civilization to its knees in this supernaturally charged martial arts epic from director Yojiro Takita. As dark Read More

Hatsukoi

Actors: Mieko Harada, Mitsuru Hirata, Hiroyuki Sanada

Synopsis: This coming-of-age story from Japan opens just after 17-year-old Sataka (Japanese teen idol Rene Tanaka) has gotten dumped by her boyfriend. When her mother is hospitalized with a malignant stomach ulcer, Sataka is left alone with her emotionally repressed father; whiling away the hours one day Read More

Ringu 2

Actors: Miki Nakatani, Hitomi Sato, Kyoko Fukada, Nanako Matsushima, Hiroyuki Sanada

Synopsis: Hideo Nakata follows up on the phenomenal success of Ringu -- the highest grossing Japanese film up to that point -- with this effort. In the previous film, Reiko (Nanako Matsushima) was a television reporter doing a piece on a videotape that seemed to kill those who watched it. Not long after Read More

Ringu

Actors: Nanako Matsushima, Hiroyuki Sanada, Miki Nakatani, Yuko Takeuchi, Hitomi Sato, Yoichi Namata

Synopsis: In this psychological horror story from Japan, a legend circulates among teenagers that if one watches a certain video at a certain time of the night, the telephone will ring right afterward, and one week later, you will die. When Masami (Hitomi Sato) tells her friend Imako this story, she scoffs Read More

Tadon to Chikuwa

Synopsis: Jun Ichikawa -- who directed such restrained Ozu-esque family dramas as Tokyo Kyodai and Tokyo Yakyoku -- completely departs from his humanistic mode of storytelling to direct this taunt psychological omnibus thriller about two working stiffs at the end of their rope. The first section focuses on Read More

Rasen

Actors: Koichi Sato, Hiroyuki Sanada, Shingo Tsurumi, Hinako Saeki, Miki Nakatani

East Meets West

Synopsis: Veteran director Kihachi Okamoto spins this genre-bending samurai western. Kamijo Kenkichi (played by gymnast Hiroyuki Sanada) is ronin from a clan opposed to Japan's opening to foreign lands. Sent in cognito on a government delegation to the United States, he is on a mission to assassinate Read More

Sharaku

Synopsis: The ukiyo-e (woodblock print) artist Sharaku is an enigmatic puzzle in the world of Japanese art. Working at an age when such masters of the trade as Hokusai and Utamaro were at their zenith, Sharaku suddenly emerged out of obscurity and produced roughly 140 strikingly brilliant portraits Read More

Kowagaru Hitobito

Synopsis: Makoto Wada directs this Twilight Zone-like portmanteau film about the grotesque, the bizarre, and the just plain weird. The first segment features a slightly drunken man (Hiroyuki Sanada) and a very tense woman (Mieko Harada) clutching a suitcase, who are riding an elevator together. When the Read More

Hero Interview

Synopsis: Hero Interview was written by Shinji Nojima, directed by Michio Mitsuno, and features the dulcimer tones of pop duo Chage & Aska. Kasumi Sawaki (Honami Suzuki) seemingly has the perfect life: she is the leading reporter in one of Japan's premiere business newspapers. She lives with a hunky Read More

Yamai wa Ki kara: Byoin e Iko 2

Synopsis: Following up on his wacky documentary-like look at an emergency room (Byoin e Iko), Yojiro Takita returns to a hospital setting in this zany film about terminal cancer. Yuko (Kyoko Koizumi) is a vivacious beautician who, unbeknownst to her, has terminal stomach cancer. Her local hospital -- more Read More

Bokura Wa Minna Ikiteiru

Actors: Tsutomu Yamazaki, Ittoku Kishibe

Synopsis: Yojiro Takita directs this comedy-drama about a quartet of Japanese salarymen engaging in wacky hijinks in a squalid, war-ravaged Third World country. Prim and polished engineer Takahashi (Hiroyuki Sanada) is sent on a business trip to the fictitious southwest Asian nation of Tarckistan, run by Read More

Keisho Sakazuki

Synopsis: Kazuki Omori directs this wacky screwball comedy about injured pride and high-strung mobsters. Stockbroker turned yakuza Shoichi Yoshinari (Hiroyuki Sanada) has been presented with a thankless task. He is to invite an oyabun (mob don) of an associated gang to emcee a succession ceremony Read More

Sure Death 4

Actors: Makoto Fujita, Mitsuko Baisho, Hiroyuki Sanada, Kin Sugai

Synopsis: This is the fourth of a series of samurai movies based on a popular Japanese television series. Among the other features of this goofy production is its soundtrack, combining Mexican and Country-Western music. The villains are garishly made-up individuals who are killing almost indiscriminately at Read More

Royal Warriors

Actors: Michelle Khan

Synopsis: This sequel to Yes, Madam is a good vehicle for the martial arts talents of Michelle Khan (aka: Michelle Yeoh, Yeung Chi-king), the Hong Kong star who gained prominence in the West as a Chinese superspy in the 1997 James Bond thriller Tomorrow Never Dies. The film features Michelle Michelle Khan Read More

Revenge of the Ninja Warrior

Synopsis: In this ninja cartoon a young ninja is up against a wicked sorcerer ~ All Movie Guide Read More

Legend of the Eight Samurai

Actors: Sonny Chiba, Hiroku Yokoshimaru

Synopsis: As might be gathered from its title, The Legend of the Eight Samurai is set in feudal Japan. Princess Hiroku Yokoshimaru's family is wiped out, along with her bodyguards. All that stands between the princess and certain death is an inexperienced young samurai played by martial-arts expert Sonny Chiba Read More

Shogun's Ninja

Synopsis: Shogun's Ninja revolves around two rival ninja clans whose constant battle for superiority has spanned decades and cost countless lives. During a critical point in their war with one another, one of the rival kings sends his commander on a mission to retrieve two mystical daggers. With these Read More

Ninja in the Dragon's Den

Actors: Conan Lee, Hiroyuki Sanada

Synopsis: Yuen Kwei directed this hard-hitting Hong Kong action film under the pseudonym "Corey Yuen." Genre veteran Hiroyuki Sanada stars in a rare heroic performance, battling a fascist religious cult with the aide of sidekick Conan Lee. The most unusual aspect of this well-done martial arts entry is its Read More

Hoero Tekken

Actors: Hiroyuki Sanada, Sonny Chiba

Synopsis: The world of drugs, mobsters, fascists, and assorted other criminal types is taken on single-handedly (almost) by the hero (Hiroyuki Sanada) as he fights for justice. His chief enemy is a man dedicated to Hitler, with a sadistic female sidekick thrown in for good measure. Other foes keep the hero Read More

Moeru Yuja

Actors: Hiroyuki Sanada

Synopsis: Jo (Hiroyuki Sanada) has just come back to Japan for the funeral of his parents, who were killed in tribal warfare in Africa where the family had been living throughout most of Jo's life. Once the funeral was over, he missed the boat that was going to take him back home, and, because of an altered Read More

Bokensha Kamikaze

Actors: Sonny Chiba, Hiroyuki Sanada, Kumiko Akiyoshi, Tatsuo Umemiya

Synopsis: Starring in his third release in 1982 (the others were Moeru Yuja and Hoeru Tekken,) Hiroyuki Sanada plays a fighting hero one more time. In this story, he is Aki Hoshino, a pre-med student at Tozai University who becomes inspired to rip off millions (in yen) that the school collected as "special Read More

Samurai Reincarnation

Synopsis: In this Japanese fantasy, the wrathful ghost of a shogunate warrior emerges from a thunderstorm to exact revenge on those behind the terrible 1638 Shimbara Revolt in which 18,000 rioters were slaughtered. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide Read More

Space Ninja: Sword of the Space Ark

Synopsis: Sci-fi meets martial arts in this lively chronicle of a warrior pilot who returns to his native planet to find it controlled by a wicked tyrant Captain Kogar. He also finds his family has been slaughtered and so now it is up to him and his pals to kick the heck out of Kogar and return the planet Read More

G.I. Samurai

Actors: Sonny Chiba, Isao Natsuki, Miyuki Ono, Nana Okada

Synopsis: Transported 400 years into the past after falling into a mysterious time slip, a squadron of contemporary Japanese soldiers becomes caught between two warring samurai clans fighting to determine who will be the supreme Shogun. As the fighting between the rival samurai clans intensifies, squadron Read More

The Fall Guy

Actors: Keiko Matsuzaka, Mitsuru Hirata, Daijiro Harada, Morio Kazama, Keizo Kanie

Synopsis: A has-been samurai movie star takes unfair advantage of the loyalty of one of his devoted fans in this Japanese comedy-drama. The star uses the fan's help to escape a number of sticky situations and eventually hatches a plan to use them as a double during a dangerous stunt. ~ Judd Blaise, All Read More

Shogun's Samurai: The Yagyu Clan Conspiracy

Actors: Sonny Chiba

Synopsis: You've seen him as the bone-cracking anti-hero of the Street Fighter films, now watch Sonny Chiba team with Japanese screen legend Toshiro Mifune and some of the biggest names in Asian cinema in an all-out martial arts melee that's guaranteed to please. Yagyu Jubei (Chiba) is the son of a shogun's Read More

Message from Space

Actors: Vic Morrow, Sonny Chiba, Philip Casnoff, Peggy Lee Brennan, Sue Shiomi

Synopsis: Message from Space, a bargain-rack Japanese Star Wars clone, stars Vic Morrow as the token American. Responding to a plea for help from a faraway planet, A young, idealistic four-person crew hurtles to the rescue. Along for the ride are two funny robots. As could expected from the Toei Studios Read More