Sick Product of a Sick System

If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

Don't Believe the Hype

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

Overall, this is the second worst movie of the series after no. 16.After the break of the Chessmaster movie this comes back as a bad choice. Again, there are the fountains of badly made blood, poodles of unconvincing thick blood staying like some common paint, severing of body parts. Let's call them special effects, but such bad execution should be convincing enough for the makers to re-shoot the scenes without the gratuitous gore.From a script stand point this is even worse than the 16th movie of the series. This is some sort of Rocky of Japan. Usually Zatoichi does not wait for too many proofs for bad guys, yet this time waits for all to pile up in an idiotic and unrealistic Hollywood way. And when everything is way too much - he does it badly wounded and after losing a lot of blood. Sure, this turns out to be more of a legend, yet, a legend that needs blood not to keep alive, but to spill some red stuff in a vane attempt to increase drama... this turns out bad.It would have been acceptable if this was the last movie of the series, having him die off screen and try to explain the ridiculous scenes by the last wish.I've given it 5 stars out of respect (Hollywood does something worse in the first movie and the sequels are far worse, yet this is the 18th!) and because it still has a lot more script than most of the movies employing katanas.Contact me with Questions, Comments or Suggestions ryitfork @ bitmail.ch

From the opening credits and the blaring song that starts the movie, it was obvious to me that the Zatoichi franchise was making an attempt to make a spaghetti Samurai movie. In earlier Zatoichi films, the villains were bad, but they were usually cowardly buffoons hiding behind hundreds of henchmen and the occasional hired gun. In this movie, the fugitives are particularly loathsome: dirty with no respect for anyone. The violence is more brutal and even Zatoichi gets one of his worst beatings in a long time.Unlike the Italian westerns, the violence happens mostly at the end; Zatoichi tries to warn off the fugitives, but even he mutters that these people are trouble. I think his Italian counterpart would have wiped them out as soon as he met them. The typical Zatoichi touches are still there, the twist at the end (which is so obvious, I think even the filmmakers weren't too concerned with making it hard to guess) and the large bodycount at the end, for example. I give the filmmakers credit for trying to stay up with the times and the film is enjoyable but I also feel that some of the Italian "gimmicks" weren't needed (most notably the jarring music).

Ichi perforates a good man yakuza in this one. There is much killing and talk of killing. The fugitives in this movie are probably the most sadistic of Ichi's enemies. This movie follows formula, which, if you like Zatoichi movies, is not a bad thing. What is the formula, you ask:Two separate enemies. Both want Ichi dead and they interact with one another.The bloodless display of sword-drawing prowess. Ichi cuts something in front of a group of thugs so precisely that he deters them from violence.The hostage rescue. Ichi walks into a boss' headquarters and walks out with some innocent, often without drawing any blood.The friendship of people who are scornful of gangsters (which is what Ichi is, for all practical purposes).The young girl who falls for Ichi.The jaded woman who turns over a new leaf.The big battle at the end.This movie followed formula to the letter; however, Shintaro Katsu is an excellent actor. The doctor and the fallen woman also put in excellent performances. Everyone else just shouts a lot and reaches for his sword.I'd recommend this one to Ichi or samurai movie fans.

Don't be lulled asleep by the (typical) orderly pacing of this Zatoichi entry: this is the bloodiest entry in the series so far.Add in an outstanding score from the unsung Hajime Kabarugi, and you have a winner!