Well, after waiting and reading mostly positive reviews on this film I finally go to check it myself and I have to say that it's one of the best samurai films I've ever seen. Its got a lot of sweet action and cool scenes and characters. A lot of instances it reminded me of anime, because of what was going on, and me being a fan of anime I was pleasantly surprised. This is another movie by Versus director Ryuhei Kitamura, who is obviously a big fan of samurai action, because a lot of his films seem to have samurai influence in'em. The man sure loves his action and badass characters. I also noticed he loves his actors, because there were a couple familiar faces in here, but I'll get to that later. Also if you're wondering if there's good ninja-versus-samurai action in here and I'm proud to say there is, but it's limited. Though, there is a lot of samurai-versus-samurai and samurai-versus-crazy-assed-guys-with-swords.



The movie is based on a manga by Yu Koyama that has been running since '94 and sold over 8 million copies on paperback. The story follows our main character Azumi and her buddies, whom are all assassans -- trained since they were very young. Azumi and her fellow assassans (along with their master) set on a mission to rid the world of evil men. They are first appointed a task be a ninja-friend that goes by the name of Nagato, who just so happens to be played by Hideo Sakaki (Villian in Versus and hero in Alive). The task calls for them to kill two men who they believe are trying to start a war. I don't wanna spoil it too much, but lets just say that their mission isn't exactly successful and they end up getting other samurai and warriors after them.




This movie is filled with a lot of excellent samurai action and that surprised me considering the movie is a little over 2-hours, but not once was I ever bored and that's very rare with films exceeding 2 hours. Since I mentioned the bad guy from Versus being in this movie as a ninja, the hero from Versus also plays a crazy warrior who attempts to hunt down the group of assassans. Man, director Ryuhei Kitamura must really like those guys. Anyway, like I said there's a lot of action, but a complaint about that is the fact that some of the young assassans and sometimes even Azumi don't look very convincing when whelding their swords in battle. At times it seemed like they were just moving a little too slow and that hurt the film slightly, but if you don't pay attention to little details like that then you'll really enjoy the flick.




I actually expected a good amount of gore in this film since usually when swords are used in action flicks you see a lot of limbs or heads being cut off, but not the case in this film. No, we mainly just see a lot of cuts and gashes with its occassional blood spurting out. Sure, it's a bloody film, but it's not really big on the gore-factor, but that's not a bad thing, it just woulda made it more fun to watch in my opinion.




What really makes this movie entertaining, aside from the action, is the cool characters. We've got our badass heroine, who really get to see kick a lot of ass and show off her skills -- fending off against hundreds of foes at a time. We've also got our other assassans who have their own unique style and talents, although they aren't really explored much, because the camera doesn't want to shy too far away from Azumi, which I thought was another slight letdown, because I would have liked to see more exploration in terms of fighting skills with the other guys. We've also got the determined samurai master who trained the group, but sadly we don't get to see him show off his skills until towards the end.




Also there are the interesting baddies -- we've got a weird skilled ninja, who wears an odd suit that everyone claims makes him look like a monkey, although his "skill" was aimed more towards a canine. Also a couple hired brother warriors (one played by the hero from Versus) who are slow, but strong. Then we are introduced to the main baddy, who is dressed all in white and has very quick skills with the sword. He's a definate odd one.




All-in-all this is a very entertaining flick. It has some cool CGI sequences now and then, but doesn't overload with the stuff, which is good and keeps things simple and faithful to older samurai flicks. There are badass characters and a simple and familiar story to us fans of anime. I definately recommend this baby to all you samurai-movie fans or action fans in general. 9-rating here -- this is going on my list of fav films.

Although the official Japanese DVD release does apparnetly contain English subtitles, the DVD itself is ridiculously overpriced, but that's mainly due to the fact that there are limited copies out there, so it's very hard to get a hold of. On the plus side it is a 2-disc with a lot of cool extras. Most likely if you're lookin' to get this film you'll have to go to ebay for results, because there are a handful of sellers there that have what I call "professional bootlegs," which are basically bootlegs but they are so well done that they have cover-art and even the plastic rapping in some cases.

I'm gonna hang onto my copy I got on ebay until I get the official release. I remember I actually purchased the Japanese DVD import for Versus back when it wasn't so widely accessable, and that cost me an uneasy $60 bucks, which is pretty much how much Azumi is going for now in asian DVD sites that do carry it. Considering the good fortune Versus had, I think I'll wait it out.

I'm looking forward to checking Aragami by the same director, which should hit DVD in Japan in a couple months, which means I should be able to view it around then. Excellent. I hear that movie is basically just about two skilled samurai's dueling it out. Good stuff.

More info...
http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0384819/

__________________
And shepherds we shall be, for thee my Lord for thee, Power hath descended forth from thy hand, that our feet may swiftly carry out thy command, we shall flow a river forth to thee, and teeming with souls shall it ever be. In nomine patrie, et fili... et spiritus sancti.
- The Boondock Saints

---
FrighT's DVD Collection (UPDATED: 8/12/04)

Sounds sweet can't wait for my dvd copy from ebay.

... :beerchug:

I'm actually tempted to buy the official Japanese release despite it's high price.

__________________
And shepherds we shall be, for thee my Lord for thee, Power hath descended forth from thy hand, that our feet may swiftly carry out thy command, we shall flow a river forth to thee, and teeming with souls shall it ever be. In nomine patrie, et fili... et spiritus sancti.
- The Boondock Saints

---
FrighT's DVD Collection (UPDATED: 8/12/04)

Sweet its all up to you though.

Looks pretty badass, I'll have to try find some place where I can download it (finally got DSL).

The costume Azumi (I guess) in the second pic looks anime/manga-ish, not a bad thing its just what it looked like to me.

Looks bad ass

__________________
Cartman: Don't call me fat you fuckin' Jew!!
Garrison: Eric! Did you just say the "F" word?
Cartman: ...Jew?
-South Park

"And I shall count thee among my favored sheep. And you shall have the protection of all the angels in heaven."-The Boondock Saints

"You are entering a world of pain."-Walter, The Big Lebowski

Good movie. Saw it a month or so ago.

Yup, that's how she looks in the manga.

__________________
And shepherds we shall be, for thee my Lord for thee, Power hath descended forth from thy hand, that our feet may swiftly carry out thy command, we shall flow a river forth to thee, and teeming with souls shall it ever be. In nomine patrie, et fili... et spiritus sancti.
- The Boondock Saints

---
FrighT's DVD Collection (UPDATED: 8/12/04)

Yep i read some reviews about this flick before and it sounds good. I believe the chick who plays Azumi is an asian pop star or something?

__________________
Insert sig here...

Don't remember. Wouldn't surprise me since a lot of pop stars in Japan turn to acting.

__________________
And shepherds we shall be, for thee my Lord for thee, Power hath descended forth from thy hand, that our feet may swiftly carry out thy command, we shall flow a river forth to thee, and teeming with souls shall it ever be. In nomine patrie, et fili... et spiritus sancti.
- The Boondock Saints

---
FrighT's DVD Collection (UPDATED: 8/12/04)

I'll check this.

Just hope the fight choreography and camera-work is better than it was in 'Versus'.

F U sucka.

F U 2

Might wanna pass on this then

__________________
And shepherds we shall be, for thee my Lord for thee, Power hath descended forth from thy hand, that our feet may swiftly carry out thy command, we shall flow a river forth to thee, and teeming with souls shall it ever be. In nomine patrie, et fili... et spiritus sancti.
- The Boondock Saints

---
FrighT's DVD Collection (UPDATED: 8/12/04)

True but they seem to be doing a better job than the Hollywood popstars.

__________________
Insert sig here...

Knight gonna hope there's some Mua Thai in this flick.

__________________
Insert sig here...

Snagged it on suprnova.

I actually thought it was pretty decent, and I sure as hell enjoyed it more than I did 'Versus'. Fight scenes and camera-work were a mixed bag I felt. Some parts were unconvincing while other parts were just downright cool (for instance when Azumi slices 5-6 Ninjas in slow-motion). Regardless, I found myself pretty entertained and interested in what was going on through the entire movie.

Anyways, pretty solid flick. I'd personally give it 7/10. Definitley isn't the best swordplay-based film I've seen, but it isn't the worst either. If I wasn't so damn picky about fight-choreography in martial-arts cinema, I'd probably rank it higher.

Pics always look better than the films themselves.

I'm always dissapointed with the fights in these modern martial arts films.

__________________
Damn right it's a beautiful day!

Aint that the gospel truth.

Badass scene

__________________
And shepherds we shall be, for thee my Lord for thee, Power hath descended forth from thy hand, that our feet may swiftly carry out thy command, we shall flow a river forth to thee, and teeming with souls shall it ever be. In nomine patrie, et fili... et spiritus sancti.
- The Boondock Saints

---
FrighT's DVD Collection (UPDATED: 8/12/04)

Just finished checkin it on dvd and its one sweet ass samurai movie.

Took you long enough.

__________________
And shepherds we shall be, for thee my Lord for thee, Power hath descended forth from thy hand, that our feet may swiftly carry out thy command, we shall flow a river forth to thee, and teeming with souls shall it ever be. In nomine patrie, et fili... et spiritus sancti.
- The Boondock Saints

---
FrighT's DVD Collection (UPDATED: 8/12/04)

Ya was busy checkin Ong Bak the other night didn't get a chance to check it like i wanted too.

I'm downloading this right now.

__________________
Fortress of Horror - Last updated Saturday, April 17th.

The owls are not what they seem.

I just saw this movie. For the first 1 hr I did not like it for it had some brutal and sad scenes. But the last hour made up for it really. Her name is Ueto Aya and she is a pop singer in Japan. SHe is quite good at acting.

__________________
"How much courage do I need, to say with my head held up high, 'This is the only important thing to me?'"

Yeah, lotta pop-singers acting there.

__________________
And shepherds we shall be, for thee my Lord for thee, Power hath descended forth from thy hand, that our feet may swiftly carry out thy command, we shall flow a river forth to thee, and teeming with souls shall it ever be. In nomine patrie, et fili... et spiritus sancti.
- The Boondock Saints

---
FrighT's DVD Collection (UPDATED: 8/12/04)

Agreed.

Downloading this thing now.

__________________
Damn right it's a beautiful day!

Gonna put this on my list.

__________________
"It's just that there's a full moon and it's that time of the month!"

Still waiting on my official copy.

__________________
And shepherds we shall be, for thee my Lord for thee, Power hath descended forth from thy hand, that our feet may swiftly carry out thy command, we shall flow a river forth to thee, and teeming with souls shall it ever be. In nomine patrie, et fili... et spiritus sancti.
- The Boondock Saints

---
FrighT's DVD Collection (UPDATED: 8/12/04)

finally got my copy off of ebay and really enjoyed it,this is a really good flick has to be in my top 10

__________________
Even if this battle costs me my life,
I am not in the least bit afraid.
- Kinji Fukasaku