Stylish but barely mediocre overall

Absolutely brilliant

Great movie. Not sure what people expected but I found it highly entertaining.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

Beset by tragic circumstances, often instigated due to her unfathomable beauty, the cruel fates bestowed upon her poignantly explored over the course of the feature, Ichi (the enthralling Haruka Aysae), a goze (a blind performer, who serenades people with her vocal talents and shamisen playing capabilities), with uniquely outstanding sword fighting skills, provided by a master she longs to discover, is forced to wander alone, after been accused of nefarious activity that was not of her own doing.Set during an unidentified ancient period in Japanese history, the self-titled Ichi combines exceptional cinematography that wondrously captures the environments, while at the same time, the lavishly rich musical score heightens the beauty of the environments, and the poignancy of the horrible occurrences the leads are forced to endure. The bloody violence that accompanies the fight scenes is neither over the top, nor too little, and much like the rest of the feature, efficaciously encapsulates what can only be perceived as an accurately brutal portrayal of how cruel and barbaric, yet at the same time, vivid, life in this particular period could have been.Touma (Takao Osawa) is a swordsman on a pilgrimage, and though he is capable of pretentiously boasting about his capabilities, he finds himself unable to draw his sword, for reasons that are conveyed over the course of the plot. The decision to not automatically reveal the back-story of the two leads brilliantly makes both characters mysterious and enchanting, as we hang on their journeys, in the hopes of discovering more about them, the depth provided to their characters been exceptionally orchestrated. Upon venturing into Ichi's life, she is forced to defend him against members of the villainous Ban-ki gang, their deaths spurring a vendetta, cast by their fellow members.Led by the antagonistic Banki (Shido Nakamura), a once revered Samurai, past events left his face hideously scarred, though these afflictions are not nearly as grotesque as his mind, this man being turned into a lunatic warrior with a thirst for bloodshed, his violent origins having a direct link to Ichi, which is again further developed as the plot progresses. Accompanying Banki are a collection of equally violent men, one of whom being Izo (Riki Takeuchi), a fighter who proves to be almost as equally terrifying as his leader.On their journey, Ichi and Touma come upon a town run by the Shirikawa's, a family consisting of Chobee (Akira Emoto) and his son, Toraji (Yosuke Kubozzuka), both of whom are members of the Yakuza, their township been plagued by continuous raids from the wretched Ban-ki gang, the local governmental personnel been unwilling to provide support. With the help of Kotaro (Ryosuke Shima), a young boy, Ichi is able to explore the town, during which she punishes members of the Ban-ki gang, Touma taking the credit for this particular brand of justice, which causes the town to hire him as their protector, unknowing that he is in fact incapable of providing the assistance they require, as the advances by the enemy continue to rapidly escalate.As Ichi and Touma begin to spend more time together, a unanimous form of understanding and respect begins to grow between them, as the two traveling individuals discover they need each other for separate reasons. It ought to be noted, some of the sexual content in the film evolves around rape, and though I personally loathe films that use rape, or the threat of rape, as a form of entertainment, in the case of Ichi, this hideous act is used to not only realistically depict the horrors of the climate, but strengthens the sympathy we feel towards specific characters.Although I have not previously witnessed the Zatoichi films this particular feature carries on from, so am unable to offer a comparative analysis, Ichi is a moving film with an equal amount of heart, brutality, character, depth and action, which elegantly and continuously captures the attention of its audience with the use of adventurous direction and poetic beauty.

Having seen other movies about the Zatoichi legend and having been less than entertained and having ended up ejecting the disc about half way through, it was with some hesitation that I sat down to watch this 2008 take on the legend.I will say this this 2008 version was particularly stylish and interesting compared to the other ones I have seen. It stands out as it is heavier on the action and the acting, than the older movies that are heavier on the melodrama.The movie is easily summarized for those not familiar with the legend of the blind swordsman. Ichi (played by Haruka Ayase), a blind traveling musician, is seeking out her mentor, and on her travels she meets up with Toma Fujihira (played by Takao Osawa) and the end up in a feud between the Yakuza and a gang of thugs."Ichi" has some good action scenes and sequences that were nicely choreographed, and they used a great combination of slow-motion and regular motion camera work to enhance the action. And the sword fight scenes were spices up with spray blood, although there wasn't actually any gore, so it was tastefully done. Oddly enough, though, with her skills with her sword, Ichi never got any blood on her and was always pretty and clean.The movie was driven by a good story, and helped along by some pretty good acting. I must applaud Haruka Ayase for her portrayal of Ichi, because it was really nicely done; emotional and beautiful. The movie did suffer from the acting of Shidô Nakamura who played Banki, the leader of the thugs, it was overdone and very staged.There was a lot of good camera work in the movie, and lots of nice scenes. They made good use of the scenery in the movie, and the sets were working quite well. And the costumes and props were working well in favor of the movie as well.For a live action Manga, then "Ichi" was a good movie, entertaining and full of action. I was glad that I watched this, despite of my former bad experiences with the older movies. Recommendable for those who like feudal Japanese swords fighting movies.

I wasn't really hyped for this movie but still looked forward for it. Since it's directed by the same guy that directed "Ping Pong" which is one of my favorite Japanese movie. It really isn't good as "Ping Pong" and lacked elements that made that movie great. But this film is still watchable despite the really manga influenced style of it all, even if it worked for the movie "Ping Pong". Everything just seemed a bit too crisp and clean for this type of movie, even if they wanted to modernize it a bit. If the movie was suppose to be a comedy than it's understandable but it's not. The movie wasn't as engrossing as expected but it was still sort of entertaining watching the blind female swordsman cut down bandits although the movie is a bit too vivid and colorful in a negative way. The script just wasn't as sharp as it should have been and the characters weren't all that interesting. If at least the direction would have been better it could have had potential to be a great movie, but the direction of it all wasn't that great. This movie was a bit of a disappointment and maybe this director should just do another manga adaptation with a good and engrossing story. Another thing that got annoying is how the villains are always way too over the top and it gets a bit irritating to watch, but than again they are obnoxious and annoying to the point I actually liked watching them get sliced and diced. There really isn't anything that stands out from this movie and nothing special.3.2/10

I haven't seen the original films in the '60s and '70s, but I watched the 2003 Zatouichi starring "Beat" Takeshi, which was a very strong film.This remake starring Ayase Haruka has its share of improvements, but just as many shortcomings.Sori Fumihiko's direction, as with "Ping Pong", was wonderful. Cinematography was very beautifully done, and the slow motion in action sequence for dramatic effect was spontaneous and enjoyable.One thing that really impressed me was the music. I saw the name "Lisa Gerrard" under musical scores in the opening credit. My first impression was, "huh? A Japanese jidaigeki with foreign sounds? Unthinkable!" But it turned out to be incredibly dramatic and accommodated every scene perfectly.Unfortunately, I can't say the same about the casting. Ayase Haruka was really beautiful and cool as the blind assassin, but she was hopeless in a particular singing scene, and some other 'everyday' scenes. I can't help but to notice how blood wasn't spilling all over her face like the 2003 version. An inevitable consequence of an idol film. Nakamura Shidou as the villain was outright horrible. He severely overacted and made the film feel incredibly cheesy. Although I'm a huge fan of Kubozuka Yousuke, I must admit his presence was too modern for an edo-period film like this. He just seemed out of place, talking like a modern teenager. Only Oosawa Takao fit the role and delivered a decent performance.I guess most of the blame should be placed on the script, which not only set the tone of each character (that the actors were not capable of...), it failed to illustrate the most important feature of the character Ichi. When I watched the 2003 version, what impressed me about the character was that he can be so deadly even though he was blind, merely using the sound of opponent charging and feeling of enemy presence. This remake, however, completely failed to show how the character was strong as she was, and also ignored the weaknesses, such as the scene where the crowd was making a lot of noise, but she was still able to easily defeat her opponent.The movie had nice action and few touching scenes, but plagued by miscasting and a weak script that also over-dramatized the story. Not nearly as good as the 2003 version in my opinion, but still fun enough to watch.