Blade of the Immortal

Takashi Miike is know for his great directing, and "Blade of the Immortal" once again proves, what this man is capable of when it comes to large-set fight/battle-sequences. The cinematography is breathtaking at parts, i particularly liked the opening, shot in black and white - reminded me of the old works of Akira Kurosawa. If only the narrative part of this movie would be as well-crafted as these fight scenes. Honestly, there are so many flaws in the script, i gave up counting after the 80 minutes-mark of this movie. First: Our protagonist is a totally useless, unsympathetic, whiny little girl, who doesn't work at all in this kind of plot. I understood the idea behind her character (fish out of water etc.), but i couldn't connect with her on a emotional level. She was just not interesting enough (the actress was great by the way, so don't blame her). I mean, you have all these overpowered beings in the plot, but the only "human" character does not serve well enough as a leading figure? That's one hell of a problem. Second: There are way too many situations in the story, where any sort of set-up is missing. Sometimes things happen without any proper explanation. Characters change their mind without any reasoning behind it. Thirdly: The pacing of this movie is totally off. It felt like i was watching Ben Hur at times. Maybe the removal of some fight scenes, would have been a good solution for this problem. Last but not least, there is just so much unused potential. Yeah i know, this movie wants to be like a fun action-trashfest, but you really could have told a genuint emotionally touching-story with this concept. It lacks some real depth. Although there are some interesting scenes sprinkled throughout the story (some neat interactions between pro- and antagonist; the moral ambiguity of certain characters actions - even the character-conflict of Manji). Still, if you want to see a good student-mentor-story even with pretty similar characters, than go and watch "Logan". It may not have that well-crafted fight scenes, but there for more heart and a better screenplay. "Blade of the Immortal" has a breath-taking opening-sequence, some interesting story-bits and twists and a astounding cinematography, but it lacks real emotions, neither does the screenplay live up to the potential of the basic concept. The actors are good, the soundtrack is catchy and you can have fun with this movie over all, but don't expect one of the great works Miike has accomplished over the years.

Fairly decent movie. There are some inconsistencies between this and the anime but that didn't bother me that much. And the anime is not that great to begin with. It's an enjoyable watch in the end.

What I didn't like: Manji's relationship with Rin is very basic. They almost never interact after the introduction scene. Rin screams. A lot.

Almost plays out like a Greek tragedy but with a whole lot of bloody gore. When the film reaches the third act there are no more actual villains in there and the number of killings in this film might be good enough for a record. Yet, beyond the action, it still manages to touch on a lot of subjects on human nature.

A long time ago, my introduction to Miike didn't quite work for me. My first experiences with his movies were weird and not satisfying to say the least. But that happens sometimes when you see something you are not used too. This is his 100th (!!!!) movie, yes you read that right, and he already had his 101 played at some festival in the summer, so who knows how many he has done in the meantime.

But with this one, he kind of stays in a classic story line. You still get a bit of crazy, but it's pretty straightforward. So the story of Swordsman who finds himself in more than a bind due to his "life"-circumstances (a curse of sorts), is bitter, until a woman comes and asks him for help. We do know where this is going, but it still is filled with colorful characters, some very nice action scenes and a general sense of having fun while watching it all unfold! Predictable it may be, but that does not take anything away from the movie in the end

Yes, there's A LOT of blood since this is a Takashi Miike film and it's always a pleasure to see Kimura Takuya do his thing on screen. For anyone familiar with the genre, what was unexpected, but welcome, was the treatment of characters trying to find their way, each with their own sense of motivation, and reflections on the murky way of revenge. Ultimately everyone that picks up their weapon must deal with their own demons and justifications.