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Directed by: Takeshi Kitano Starring: Takeshi Kitano (Battle Royale ) / Tadonobu Asano (Icchi the Killer) To draw a comparison between Kitano's recent Zatoichi revival and the classic Zato films from decades ago would be a mistake and would draw away from the real meat of this review. So I won't compare them at all. For the uninitiated Zatoichi is a the story of a blind samurai who walks the earth avenging those who cannot avenge for themselves. He spends a lot of time slicing up thieves, gamblers and mafia out of pure Ronin justice. Because he is blind, it makes for some interesting combat and situations. On its own, Zatoichi is an odd blend of strange Japanese sexuality and humor, guided by some rather intense and violent action scenes. It is a film the encapsulates a great deal of odd Japanese culture in its relatively short running time. Cross dressing men, retards, and awkward sex references dot this movie and although I've marked this film as action, the action scenes themselves seem to take a back seat to the lame plotting. So this movie seems to be more about strange situational awkwardness than anything else. There are also standard Japanese gangster film cliches, like dying wives and old scores to settle between families and children. It's all rather quite boring as the characters motivations all seem rather cluttered and unbelievable, at least from a western perspective. The only thing really holding the film together, is of course, the bloody violence. This is not without its flaws too, as the CGI limbs and legs that fly off in abundance or quite obviously fake, and because a lot of the action happens so fast the scenes are over quite quick leaving the viewer feeling unsatisfied. There is one other thing I must mention though, and that is tap dancing. Yes, this film has tap dancing and it's just another tribute to the strange and ridiculous nature of this film. There are also several scenes in which farmers plowing a field, stomping stuff, or building a bridge will form a rudimentary percussion session with the sounds they make with their farm equipment. It's all rather odd. Because of things like this, I had a hard time enjoying the film. The plot was needlessly convoluted and complicated and it seemed as if some parts were thrown in because other, more popular and better done movies had done the same thing. It seems ironic that the director of this film, who also happens to be the star of it, was playing a blind man. It really seems like this director forgot to look at what he was shooting. Get it, he's blind. Okay I'm done. All in all, I'd give this film a two out of five. This movie isn't good enough to justify a three, but not complete poo poo so I won't rate it a one. It's a movie strictly for those who love old japanese samurai stuff. ]-[ate_Sandwich fucked around with this message at 04:20 on May 2, 2004 |
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May 2, 2004 04:15
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| # ? Apr 27, 2024 09:45 |
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Regarding the CGI, here's a small interview with Takeshi that I found on the IMDBquote:"I knew from the beginning that the film would have quite a high body count," says Kitano, unabashed. "But I did want to soften the shock to the audience, so I decided to use a lot of artificial CGI blood spatter." He notes my raised eyebrows: "If I had gone for realism, with blood dripping from the wounds, it would have been a lot more painful to watch. I wanted it to look more like a computer game, or something like dancing with blood." I tell him that to me the blood seemed more like paint spattered from an artist's brush. "I had a lot of discussions about this with the CGI artist... I told him that I wanted to make it look like flowers blossoming across the screen." Also, I think the tap dancing sequence at the end adds to the entire film. All throughout the movie there was the theme of rhythm and the ending ties it all together. Even with the CGI this was still a very bloody movie, I think the ending just helps calm the audience rather than leaving them out for blood or something.
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May 2, 2004 04:56
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quote:]-[ate_Sandwich came out of the closet to say: I disagree; I think the two will inevitably be compared. While Kitano certainly has some charisma, I think he was missing an element of human compassion that Shintaro Katsu gave to the original Zatoichi that made it work so well. quote:The only thing really holding the film together, is of course, the bloody violence. This is not without its flaws too, as the CGI limbs and legs that fly off in abundance or quite obviously fake, and because a lot of the action happens so fast the scenes are over quite quick leaving the viewer feeling unsatisfied. I found the CGI to get in the way as well. I enjoy samurai films for the impressive swordplay, not for the pseudo-realistic blood-spattering gore, and the fact that the first few Zatoichi films were in black and white is a testament to this. While the movie was entertaining, I don't think it lives up to the classic Zatoichi series, and I hope Kitano returns to doing films like Hana-bi, Sonatine, or even Kikujiro.
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May 2, 2004 05:03
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I enjoyed this film immensely. It had every quality that I feel a movie should have. It had a solid story, excellent twists, fantastic camerawork and well placed humor. In dealing with the violence, I happen to like quick, short fight scenes. A film like this, with it's almost lightning quick moves and lack of villan/hero banter that plauges american action cinema, makes a much more enjoyable viewing experience. The audience must always be on its feet. The blood is far more tame than Ichi the Killer and the fights are far more believable. (FYI, I disliked Ichi). On the subject of tap-dancing, maybe I read into the film too much, but I think it provided the type of relief that was necessary for what, to me, seemed to be a tense film. The dancing, humor, ironies and other deviations from the central plot were well placed and properly executed. I would say that, while maybe not necessary, these extras certianly found a good home in their particular places in the film. I highly recommend tis film to anyone who enjoyed the fights in Kill Bill Vol 2 more than the ones in Kill Bill Vol 1. Voted 5.
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May 2, 2004 05:04
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Regardless of the intention Kitano had (as if it really matters) I still found myself going "he's not really getting his arm cut off. I know how they did that." Not to mention they slowed it down. I'm not saying that blood can't be pretty, but this wasn't the way to do it. And the tap-dancing was definitely weird. quote:WildeVinyl came out of the closet to say: If you call making fun of retards well placed humor. If you're looking for a better stand off movie, watch "Once Upon a Time in the West." In fact, I'm gonna throw a review up for that one. Also: ]-[ate_Sandwich fucked around with this message at 05:09 on May 2, 2004 |
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May 2, 2004 05:07
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I loved this movie, simply because it was so strange, and yett so cool. You don't really get to know the characters, throughout the movie it feels like you're witnessing small parts of something much bigger. Where american movies would spell it out, this movie has some offhand comment hint to what has happened outside what we get to see, or just leaves it implied from the characters actions. The singing and dancing, the stylized violence, all say that this is just a work of art, not to be analyzed too closely, but to be admired and to get inspiration from. Even just for the humor, including slapstick, dark irony, and absurdities, this movie gets a 5.
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May 2, 2004 06:57
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quote:]-[ate_Sandwich came out of the closet to say: I dare say it's a reference to famed russian director Eisenstein (has anyone seen The General Line (1929)?) At least that's what I kept thinking when seeing those scenes. Maybe not Eisenstein in particular, but him and his peers experimented with the rhythm in editing in such ways. Combined with the imagery (workers in the field, close-ups of the tools) it's easy to see the parallels to Eisenstein. Overall the movie was interesting to watch, with its quirky scenes, odd humour, strange CGI blood and all that. It had a well defined and unique style.
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May 2, 2004 13:18
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A moderately entertaining movie, though not without its flaws. Fans of Kitano will most likely enjoy this, as it has all of the hallmarks of his work. Unfortunately, these hallmarks are also the things which annoy me about his other films. The pacing is very slow, and the film spends a lot of time observing characters daily lives, when in fact these characters either aren't very interesting (e.g. the retarded neighbor) or only appear in one scene. The fighting scenes are all right, but don't really bring anything new to the samurai flick table. The choreography is decent, but as been stated before, the CG blood looks very out-of-place, and often detracts from the tension of the moment. Overall score: 3 out of 5
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May 2, 2004 15:58
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quote:indigoe came out of the closet to say: Considering Eisensteins film was A) Silent and B) about the hardship of the peasants, I highly doubt it. Not every drat movie is a reference to Eisenstein.
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May 2, 2004 22:16
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I enjoyed this movie very much. I guess I looked past the CGI shortcomings, and agree it was rather uneeded. I really like Takeshi Kitano's work, and thought the storyline wasnt too convoluted. I really would like to see the earlier Zato films, however, as they sounds very intereting. 5/5
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May 2, 2004 23:24
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quote:]-[ate_Sandwich came out of the closet to say: No I don't, and there were very, very few times in the movie where it occured. Most of the humor is either irony or incompetence. I happen to love irony. Hell, the whole movie is an irony.
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May 2, 2004 23:52
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For a Takeshi Kitano film, I found Zatoichi to be extremely bland. And the ending just irritated the hell out of me.
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May 6, 2004 15:06
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I thought it was a great movie, for the most part. The CG blood didn't bother me at all. There was still lots of great action and whatnot. The rythm sequences were kind of... odd. Especially the one at the end there. Still awesome though. 4/5.
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May 31, 2004 04:47
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i'll start by saying i'm not terribly farmiliar with japanese cinema (yet), and this is the only 'Zato' film i've ever seen. that said, i thought it was wonderful. obviously, the history of the Zatoichi films were intense sword-play flicks, but it's equally obvious that Kitano was doing something very very different with this film. what i liked about it seems to be exactly what its detractors hated. i found all the characters to be fascinating, Zatoichi himself no more and no less than the others. i felt like i was being led by the hand through this wierd little town, hearing everyones' stories, and then seeing how all of these screwed-up people were going to deal with one another. there were very few 'bad guys' in the film. the gangsters were obviously 'bad,' but had full enough personalities and enough mystery to make them understandable. on the other hand, the Ronin and the thieving 'sisters' had their own stories that made them quite simpathetic. the gender-play with the brother/sister character was also fun given how embedded female impersonators are in japanese culture. the 'rhythm' scenes absolutely fascinated me. you can just barely tell what they're doing at first, but as it builds it gets more and more chaotic until it all just falls apart. emblematic of the story itself, and as a precurser to the tap-dancing, it worked wonderfully. in the end, the whole cast takes their bows in front of the audience in a bizarre, carnivalesque spectacle that draws attention the movie's own nature as entertainment, something to be taken not literally but metaphorically and symbolically. so, yeah. two thumbs up. both mine.
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May 31, 2004 07:12
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quote:]-[ate_Sandwich came out of the closet to say: He's putting order into the everyday sounds we wouldn't notice. The farmers weren't deliberately beating out a rhythm, that was Zatoichi's interpretation. It's the aural equivalent of seeing images of animals or other objects, in cloud shapes. At least, that's what I thought it was showing. 3.5; will watch again. Binary Logic fucked around with this message at 17:44 on May 31, 2004 |
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May 31, 2004 17:42
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quote:habib came out of the closet to say: They really weren't. Most of them only had the one big climactic fight at the end, and a couple little sword tricks or the occasional stabbing interspersed throughout the rest. I enjoyed it. 5/5.
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Jun 1, 2004 00:59
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Most unexpected ending ever for a samuri movie that also concreted it as one of my most favorite movies. 5
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Jun 30, 2004 00:58
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The supporting characters all get a ton of time to develop well in this movie. Zatoichi himself isn't even the focal character for a great deal of the film, a lot of it is spent with the other subplots that intersect one another. The use of sound and "found music" is great, and the film has a really goofy sense of humor (you could say the entire thing was one big joke on the audience). The cgi stuff was a little distracting at times, especially when it looked like bad green-screen, but overall, this was an excellent film. edit - best movie of 2004 so far. vertov fucked around with this message at 17:03 on Aug 14, 2004 |
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Jun 30, 2004 01:11
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This overhyped movie pretty much bored me to the point where I didn't even FINISH it! I'm glad I didn't make my friends watch it. The plot was barely coherent and there was barely any action in a SAMURAI movie. If you want to see a study on Feudal Japanese blind people, see this movie. If not, skip it. 1 out of 5 for it's production values, but that's ALL I give it.
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Jul 2, 2004 10:56
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Just saw this movie tonight and I totally loved it! I had this feeling of elation after leaving the theater, I can't explain it. The fights were brief but intense, the CG blood WORKED for me, and the occasional 'musical numbers' were beautiful. I was never bored, quite the opposite I ate every scene of the movie up. It was long, and it worked at it's own pace, but I felt it all paid off in the end. I can't wait to see it again! 5/5
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Aug 14, 2004 09:17
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I enjoyed this movie because I really like the original Zato Ichi films and this one had interesting twists to it. But I clearly felt it didn't par with other Takeshi movies nor the original. Also, there were too many themes that didn't resolve well. Swordplay in the movie had many cool moments but they weren't all that satisfying altogether. 3/5 I thought the tap dance scene was great. Soundtrack was cool too.
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Aug 14, 2004 13:27
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I really enjoyed this film. It blends absurdity with reality very well, and really makes it feel like you're watching a slice of life that took a turn toward the unusual right as you arrived. I love the absurd humor, like the retarded neighbor's son, and the workers in the field creating a musical medley. The characters were rather well-developed, and it almost seemed like they were bored at points, which helped reinforce the feeling that this was just a slice of life. It felt a lot like Ichi the Killer to me, and the tap-dancing sequence just added to the sense of uneasy absurdity. The action was always fast and succint. There was never any grandstanding or ego-waving, just men and their swords. The CG blood was noticeable, but it didn't seem terribly out of place in the context of the movie, since many things in the movie are a little bit odd. Definitely not your average movie, I say it's worth watching even if you don't think you'll like it, since it really shows you a different kind of movie-making than you see in America. Whether you like it or not is another issue... 4.5/5
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Aug 15, 2004 22:53
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I really liked it, but I did have big problems with the dumb parts. However, the Casino and Rain fight scene make it a solid 4.5 for sheer awesome action scene factor.
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Aug 16, 2004 02:32
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Interview with the director/actor, which is a good read. http://www.theonionavclub.com/feature/index.php?issue=4032&f=2 The CGI blood took me out of it. I did like the retard son and some of the other touches. But man, the script was convoluted. Sure, gramps is the grand overlord bad guy. Because, you know, no one would ever guess that. Because, you know, he gets no benefit for being the grand overlord bad guy while he's gramps. Next time I'm hiding from the law, I'll just kill myself. THAT'LL FOOL THEM! I completely forgot about the dancing stuff. But I think near the end, I kind of tuned-out. They even had black-garbed ninjas pop out of the ground at the end. And they died in a second. I was just thinking when I saw that, they must have been hiding there for hours in the HOPE that this blind guy figures them out and comes by. What a crappy occupation. And don't forget, he's a masseur. Though he didn't massage too often. 2/5
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Aug 16, 2004 17:54
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Densely plotted with multiple story strands, all of which are intruiging, this samurai slapstick film is more fun than just about anything I've seen this year. Bloody swordfights, cross dressing, dance routines: this film throws everything at you but the kitchen sink, and emerges as a Seven Samurai for the MTV generation. And I mean that as the highest possible praise. The fight scenes borrow heavily from the Sergio Leone school of protracted build up, rapid climax, and while the gallons of blood that inevitably jet across the screen are quite obviously CGI, that for me in no way detracted from the impact. Standouts are the kickass fight in a rain storm, and a massacre in a darkened gambling parlour. Some may be turned off by the absurd touches, I found they added immensely to the atmosphere. If I had to pick a fault, it would be that they almost spent too much time with the secondary charactres, at the expense of the hero who remains enigmatic. That, and the somewhat implausable revelation of the uber-villain's identity, prevent me from giving it full marks. But still a great film. 4.5 / 5
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Sep 2, 2004 08:33
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I felt the movie was rather disjointed, mostly due to its editing. Scenes would simply pop up one moment and abruptly end. The flashbacks were poorly handled, and some of the cinematography (with the dutch angles and crane shots during the final dance sequence) were poorly executed. That being said, the fight scene at Ogi's compound was excellent, and the dance number was a nice, if rather eccentric addition. Unfortunately, both are not enough to redeem the film in my eyes. 2.5/5
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Sep 5, 2004 09:26
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I tried to like this film, I really did. But about half way through, when I realized that it definitly wasn't going anywhere and that none of the characters were ever going to get interesting or serve any real purpose, I gave up and accepted how boring the whole thing was. It was hard enough accepting the CG blood effects, much less the fact that the sword blades themselves were rotoscoped (one of the most ludicrous concepts I've come across in the history of movies). The editing was out of joint, the events random and seemingly pointless, and the wacky dance number at the end just sealed the deal... everybody dance! Moreover, I simply can't get into a film where the protagonist is, from the very first moment, all-freakin'-out. What's the interest, or sympathy, in a character whos life lacks any challenge? We know he's incredible, so after about the fifth time a scene points out that he's incredible, its hard not to stop caring. I hate to sound pretentious, but there's a reason they invented something called character development, which the protagonist lacked. I'll give it a 2 for effort.
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Sep 7, 2004 05:52
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I thought this was a brilliant movie by Kitano and that he achieved everything he set out to do by making this film. Yes the blood was overtly CGI, Kitano did that on purpose. The camerawork was great and the pairing of Asano and Kitano was a great choice, despite their limited actual shared screentime. Kitano's speed with his cane sword was amazing too, especially in the rain scene (a nod to Kurosawa's Seven Samurai) Voted: 4/5 PROS: Camera work, acting by supporting roles (specifically the male geisha), fight scenes, comic relief CONS: I am the boss! No I am the boss! Ha Ha fooled you!
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Feb 12, 2005 11:40
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Very bizarre and disjointed, but fun for what it was. I'm not terribly familiar with Kitano's movies but they tend to show a tendency towards measuring off drama with comedy in peculiar ways (the dancing farm workers\house builders, or the Three's Company-style mistaken-for-sex shot). I didn't find the cg too daunting, but the movie definitely left me empty with the one-sided action. I can appreciate that it isn't a traditional samurai movie, but come on, the Big Showdown is timeless.
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Feb 14, 2005 00:38
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This was my first Zatoichi movie and my second Kitano picture (first was Sonatine, which I prefered). My biggest complaint was that the plot seemed to get pretty muddled, but I don't like to penalize foreign films too heavily on this count, since I'm never quite sure how much can be blamed on the translation or cultural context that doesn't carry over. That, and the last half hour or so really dragged on for me, partly because I was trying to figure out exactly was going on with the plot. And I would've prefered some blood FX that weren't quite so fake looking, but this isn't a huge point. Aside from this, I like it a lot. Kitano's performance as the blind Zatoichi is great, with plenty of good support characters and a generally interesting sense of human insight. I like the pacing of the fight scenes, I like the gambling scenes, I like the whole Naruto twins storyline. I enjoyed the rhythmic farmers/carpenters (which reminded me a lot of the wrestling on the beach scene from "Sonatine"). The dance number at the end was unexpected but enjoyable. 3/5. Didn't quite work for me, but I'm intrigued enough I'll probably give it another viewing sometime.
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Mar 30, 2005 02:42
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For the same reasons that have always remained a mystery to me, of all Takeshi’s work to date – in England at least – this appears to be his most successful. Even my parents saw this at their local small town arts cinema, even my parents enjoyed this. The story, briefly and spoiler free, is that of a blind ‘masseuse’ who travels to a small town in the grips of a mob war. Also arriving is a bodyguard for hire, or ‘Ronin’ as the word goes. Both, we are shown fairly early on, are like totally hardcore. The blind masseur uses a sword hidden within his cane to generally kill everyone who comes near him, the Ronin hiring out his skills in order to obtain medicine for his hot wife who has TB or something. He is snapped up by evil mob boss A and ordered to do general wickedness, all for the girl he loves. Also thrown into this mix are two geisha girls with a past, predominantly focusing around vengeance. This is all well and good. The film continues along these lines, all building to the inevitable show down between the masseuse and the Ronin. Events are handled in a light hearted way, there are comedy interludes and so on, very Japanese gags of people being hit with sticks, stuff like that. The violence is suitably kick rear end, streamlined and sudden in most cases. Slick rather then anything disturbing. An ending is eventually reached, everyone high-fives, has a bit of a dance, and goes home. It’s more or less by the numbers stuff. Nothing exceptional in the cinematography or direction. The fighting is nothing anyone who has seen any classic samurai epic will not immediately recognise. Generally your happy enough with it all, but it is no Samurai 1 or Shogun Assassin, nor does it try to be. But I was left feeling frankly disappointed. It’s not funny or innovative enough to allow itself not to try and be a samurai epic. A film with such pedigree, what actually did it do? Nothing, is what I am left with. Entertainment, sure, and perhaps I should be happy just to be entertained. But it is just that which I think disappointed me. Why make it a comedy? On reflection I realise that what I really wanted was the story of the Ronin and his lady. It seemed to me that they held by far the most interesting background, the people who had so much more to lose then anyone else in the film. While Zatoichi himself is nothing more then a butcher – he even reminisces over slaughtering like thirty men – and the geisha story line was perhaps a little dull and lifeless. Maybe I was supposed to feel like this, but I thought that if anything the film was a tragedy. But a tragedy presented as a comedy. Why even bother with the geisha story line? It was utterly pointless and took up a huge part of the film. I found myself feeling that I had watched a perfectly adequate film, that had replaced a brilliant one. Ok, so I know Takeshi has made a lot of films not unlike the one I am proposing. But this was a miss for me. I am left thinking how sinister the masseuse was, but how terrifying he could have been. Yes the lovers were tragic, but they could have been heart breaking. 3/5
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Mar 30, 2005 15:37
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