OK, everyone loves this flick and I can see why, to a degree. We all know the fights are pretty stunning. But bloody sword battles do not make a movie/ As a major fan of the old Zatoichi series I am terribly disappointed. I went into this film with expectations. I expected the film to revisit the original series at every turn. I wanted to see Ichi cheat at gambling with the old "dice falling out of the sleeve" trick. I wanted to see him use his blindness to make people think he was weak, then punish them for taking advantage. I wanted to see him drinking hard, womanizing, and stuffing his face as often as possible. I expected him to be robust and handsome with a deep growling voice, just like the original. Instead, who did they have attempt to fill the shoes of Katsu Shintaro? An aged nobody with a feeble voice and distorted stroke-face.
The plot was weak as water. The movie was smattered with meaningless characters who provided neither humor nor serious plot device.. The retarded man who dreamed of being a samurai never did anything useful.. How cool would it have been if he showed up at just the right time to save someone's butt with his spear, and subsequently get slaughtered? It would be shocking and he would have died a hero, satisfying a samurai movie fan's lust for chivalrous self-sacrifice from the characters. The poor gambler who befriends Ichi is useless and unlikable as well. They spend endless time showing his attempt to build gambling skills, which he fails at.... and that's the end of that. WOW. That's what I call pointless. Then he gets a wild hare and wants to dress like a geisha for no apparent reason other than to put him in drag for "comic" purposes.
The camera-work was really horrible.. My main complaint was closeups where there should not have been closeups, going to reaction shots when what we wanted to see was action, starting out with a lovely angle that cuts away too fast to enjoy it.. The camera work threatens to be brilliant over and over and fails each time.
The film also insults your intelligence by providing flashbacks to scenes that happened less than a minute ago. They hand obvious facts on a platter, apparently to cater to the very least intelligent among us.
The back story of the brother and sister team on a mission for revenge brings up issues for me as well.. When their attempts to rob Ichi and his incompetent gambler friend are stopped, they suddenly tell their entire life story and plot for revenge, and then they are now all boone companions... That, in my book, makes no sense whatsoever.
And last but not least, the festival. WHAT? Ancient Japanese tap dancing? We are treated to some bizarre combination of River Dance and Stomp set to vaguely Japanese sounding music. While three men dressed like Peter Pan are tap dancing, they show all our friends from the movie there with them, and apparently they've been taking choreographed dance lessons when not slaving away as peasants under yakuza rule... And what's better, they all know to face the camera!! That doesn't look like a festival, it looks like a stage show at the holiday inn. GIVE ME A BREAK. The festival scene absolutely destroyed the tone of the movie, and was highly reminiscent of the way you end a children's movie or a cartoon.
This movie shames Zatoichi fans as well as the Japan's rich film history. The writers would need to commit seppuku to regain their honor. Long story short, real Zatoichi fans will be repulsed by this film. Steer Clear!!
The plot was weak as water. The movie was smattered with meaningless characters who provided neither humor nor serious plot device.. The retarded man who dreamed of being a samurai never did anything useful.. How cool would it have been if he showed up at just the right time to save someone's butt with his spear, and subsequently get slaughtered? It would be shocking and he would have died a hero, satisfying a samurai movie fan's lust for chivalrous self-sacrifice from the characters. The poor gambler who befriends Ichi is useless and unlikable as well. They spend endless time showing his attempt to build gambling skills, which he fails at.... and that's the end of that. WOW. That's what I call pointless. Then he gets a wild hare and wants to dress like a geisha for no apparent reason other than to put him in drag for "comic" purposes.
The camera-work was really horrible.. My main complaint was closeups where there should not have been closeups, going to reaction shots when what we wanted to see was action, starting out with a lovely angle that cuts away too fast to enjoy it.. The camera work threatens to be brilliant over and over and fails each time.
The film also insults your intelligence by providing flashbacks to scenes that happened less than a minute ago. They hand obvious facts on a platter, apparently to cater to the very least intelligent among us.
The back story of the brother and sister team on a mission for revenge brings up issues for me as well.. When their attempts to rob Ichi and his incompetent gambler friend are stopped, they suddenly tell their entire life story and plot for revenge, and then they are now all boone companions... That, in my book, makes no sense whatsoever.
And last but not least, the festival. WHAT? Ancient Japanese tap dancing? We are treated to some bizarre combination of River Dance and Stomp set to vaguely Japanese sounding music. While three men dressed like Peter Pan are tap dancing, they show all our friends from the movie there with them, and apparently they've been taking choreographed dance lessons when not slaving away as peasants under yakuza rule... And what's better, they all know to face the camera!! That doesn't look like a festival, it looks like a stage show at the holiday inn. GIVE ME A BREAK. The festival scene absolutely destroyed the tone of the movie, and was highly reminiscent of the way you end a children's movie or a cartoon.
This movie shames Zatoichi fans as well as the Japan's rich film history. The writers would need to commit seppuku to regain their honor. Long story short, real Zatoichi fans will be repulsed by this film. Steer Clear!!