La légende de Zatoïchi - Un nouveau voyage

New Tale of Zatoichi is the third entry in the franchise centered around the skilled blind swordsman with the strong moral compass. It's also the first movie of the franchise to be shot in color. However, it's also the weakest part of the franchise thus far but still an above average experience. Zatoichi is hunted down by the family of a yakuza he killed in the previous film when he is unexpectedly saved from trouble by his former master. He agrees to stay with his former master and his younger sister and also visits his solitary grandmother. What seems to be a joyous reunion soon turns sour when Zatoichi realizes how his master has changed for the worst. His former master tries to marry his sister to a man whom she doesn't love, kills unarmed people for unjustified reasons and cooperates with a ruthless gang of criminals by taking advantage of his pupils' rich parents. Zatoichi can't ignore the truth and ends up challenging his former master to a decisive duel.

The third installment of the Zatoichi franchise must be separated into two parts. The first half of the movie is quite pointless and could also be told in five minutes or less. We follow Zatoichi traveling across rural Japan and meeting former friends and foes. The movie plods along and is only average at best because of an imprecisely meandering plot. Up to that point, the film could be considered an at best average slice of life or road movie. Things however improve by a few notches when his former master's sister proposes to Zatoichi. From then on, the characters are developed in depth, philosophical topics such as dishonor and honor are discussed and the movie skillfully mixes beautiful fight choreography with a tragic love story. The second half of the film is the most emotional passage of the franchise as we witness Zatoichi's desperate quest for love, peace of mind and renaissance which he simply cannot find as he is constantly challenged, judged and haunted by the demons of his past.

In the end, despite being the least interesting part of the franchise thus far, New Tale of Zatoichi is still worth your attention because of an emotional second half that pardons for a plodding first half. The movie stands out with a sad, melancholy and gloomy touch and makes the viewer empathize with the haunted swordsman more than ever before. Fans of the franchise should definitely watch this film while occasional martial arts fans should rather try out the first installment, The Tale of Zatoichi.

In terms of plot, the third Zatoichi is no better than the previous two films. Cinematically, it is a vast improvement. Every shot is fantastic, and the score is as good as it gets. The change in Director really shows. Oh, and it's in colour. I do love black and white photography, but the colour adds so much in a film like this.

Like the previous film, it's a little melodramatic in places, but it works in the films favour. The lead actor is as great here as he was the last two times round, and the actor playing his master is perfectly cast. There is a lot of character development in this one. A little more about Zatoichi's past is revealed, as is his desire to leave the yakuza life, and the shame he feels for his past deeds. As someone else said, there is a great scene in which he plays a game of odds and evens. Maybe I'm just a softy, but after a scene like that I find it impossible not to rank this film higher than the previous two. I love it when villains have a change of heart. Very impactful scene. Admittedly, the character Zatoichi befriends in the first film and their relationship is stronger overall... but that odds and evens scene... Love it.

This film also has a great ending; a far cry from the abrupt ending of the previous, which felt as though they ran out of time and cut it short. I'm all for stylish abrupt endings (Sword of Doom), but the second film's ending felt almost accidental, almost as if they had an allocated time slot and were running over. This one ends with style. In fact, for a film like this I'd say it's a perfect ending (though not as good as Sword of Doom's ending, obviously). In a way it reminded me of some of the Sharpe (Sean Bean series) endings, and that non-detrimental melodrama reminded me of Sharpe, too.

I've not seen all the films in the series yet. I'm working my way through and rating them as I go, but so far Zatoichi 3 is the clear winner. Stylish and impactful.

EDIT - I'm now up to the ninth film. There have been films that surpasses this one overall, but I have to add that so far this film is still the best in terms of visuals and cinematography. Every shot is fantastic, so much so that the photo used for the actor is a still from this film.

This is the third entry in the popular Zatoichi series, and as usual it features an outstanding performance from Shintaro Katsu as the blind masseur who is also a master of sword play. This time he takes on a gang of thieves who are marauding the countryside. Of particular note is Akira Ifubuke's brilliant and evocative score, reminiscent of his best work from kaiju.

Daiei's logo is impressively shown for the first time in colour, in this, the third Zatoichi adventure, released only five months after the second film, and eleven months after the original.

Well photographed in full colour, it's another beautiful looking film, and the director, and cinematographer, both know how to effectively use bright, vivid colours, contrasted with subdued tones, as the second film's villain's brother tries to avenge his death, while Ichi is dealing with a ruthless gang of thugs, but I must admit that I did prefer the monochromatic photography of the first two installments.

The third installment of the Zatoichi series is the best one I have ever seen. While not as exciting as some of the other action packed entries (Chest of Gold, Zatoichi's Revenge) in terms of character development this film had the most impact on me. The stakes just seem to be higher in this entry than in most. Make no mistake, Ichi's life is on the line in EVERY other installment, but this centers on how Ichi really wants to quit his swordsman lifestyle and take a wife. To live the rest of his days in peace is all he wants and that is taken away from him. Ichi is forced to not only see how terrible the people he trusts can be, but how much he brings upon himself. This film really drives home how much Ichi loses each time he takes a life. A new friend, a new aquaintence or a new lover is almost always instantly taken away from him, either by an enemies hands or by his own. But the single greatest scene in this film is not any of the sword fights, like in other entries, the best scene is the evens/odds scene in this film. If you're a fan of this series at all please see this entry.