Naruto Shippuden the Movie 5 - Blood Prison

The movie is fair but doesn't compare to the series.

Blood Prison, the fifth installment in the Naruto Shippuden movie lineup, breaks from the usual formula by throwing Naruto into a grim setting: a maximum-security ninja prison where he's falsely accused of a crime and stripped of his freedom. This darker, more suspense-driven premise offers a refreshing change of pace-but the execution is uneven.

Strengths: The greatest strength of Blood Prison is its atmosphere. The film starts off with a mysterious and almost thriller-like tone, placing Naruto in an unfamiliar situation where brute strength and flashy jutsu alone won't solve his problems. The setting of Hozukijo, a bleak and intimidating prison surrounded by lava, adds a sense of danger and claustrophobia not often seen in the franchise.

Naruto's character is handled fairly well here. We get to see his resilience tested without his usual support system, and his determination to protect others-even in hostile, isolating conditions-remains central. The film also explores themes of justice, corruption, and identity, which adds some narrative depth.

The villain, Mui, is more complex than the typical movie antagonist. His motivations, rooted in grief and loss, are more tragic than evil, which gives the conflict a bit more weight. The "Box of Paradise" as a plot device is intriguing, if underdeveloped, and adds a mythical layer to the story.

Weaknesses: Unfortunately, Blood Prison falls into some familiar traps. The pacing is inconsistent-after a strong, intriguing start, the story bogs down in the middle with unclear plot progression and lackluster side characters. The prison inmates and guards had potential for compelling interactions or alliances, but most are either forgettable or reduced to cliché roles.

The final act shifts abruptly into standard shonen fare, complete with a massive energy monster, over-the-top destruction, and Naruto tapping into Kurama's power. While entertaining, it undermines the grounded tone the film tried to build and ends with a predictably explosive climax that feels detached from the more suspenseful opening.

Final Verdict: Blood Prison deserves credit for trying something different with its tone and setting. It begins with a compelling premise, offers a more vulnerable take on Naruto, and flirts with darker, more mature storytelling. However, it doesn't fully commit to its unique setup and ultimately retreats into the safety of typical movie tropes. It's entertaining and worth watching, but it leaves you wishing it had taken more risks with its narrative.

Rating: 6.9/10.

All Naruto movies are pretty nice, but they usually have this emotional outburst of loyalty and desire to protect, followed by annoyingly inspiring shouted speeches that are just too much to take. This film has very little of that, it starts with an interesting premise, continues to the end in a pretty straightforward way and then it ends with a bang.

The ending could have been better, I grant you that, but it wasn't awful and Naruto didn't just breeze through with some jutsu or another, he actually had to fight it out.

Bottom line: not the best Naruto movie, but one that I liked.

I didn't like the film at all, because of the absurdity and clumsiness of the ending and plot holes. Also, the fact that everything happened in a prison where almost everyone committed terrible crimes felt really underused; of course, we were reminded a couple of times that everyone around us are criminals, but if we transfer the story to some other generic village, then nothing would change fundamentally. The story is as generic, nonsensical and predictable as it could possibly get for an anime filler movie.

There's almost nothing particularly positive which I can say about this movie. I guess the animation is... Decent. But that's probably it.

First of all, I don't understand which universe this movie takes place in, because as far as I know from the main story, when Konoha was not destroyed yet, Naruto could not know the Sage Jutsu, and he also did not know Bee's face. If they made this movie just to serve the fans, the value of the main story will decrease. To comment on this movie, I can divide it into two halves. The first half is before the winged monster appeared. This is the best story development in the shippuuden movies so far. The castle scenes and the costumes of the characters are all attractive and beautiful. I really like the design of the masks of the leaders of the Grass Village. The story is rushed as usual: in the blink of an eye, Naruto was taken away. But then things delve into Mui's secret and this brings the appeal to the story of the mysterious castle. When Ryuuzetsu appears, she also shows a reasonable influence on the story. Everything including the Muku twist was fine until the second half of the story. The winged beast appeared and the bad things from the dialogue to the action scenes and a lot of ridiculous nonsense. The sound editing was not better either. I even think the director in charge of the second half of the movie fell asleep. The absurdities were too much to accept like a person with a big hole in the chest still walking, observing and talking, crying... these made the scenes that were supposed to be emotional at the end of the movie become bizarre jokes. The things that were worth waiting for at the beginning of the movie turned into ridiculous comedy.