Black Belt

This is truly a great film. Original and refreshing in its presentation. Sure, the plot can be easily deduced, but the environment, film direction, pure beauty of clean karate used appropriately makes this movie a real winner.

The picture is beautiful, cinematography excellent. You develop a real connection with the characters as well. The movie is also suspenseful and engaging. The fighting scenes are spectacular. It also captures the historic period of 1930's Japan very well too.

You can even learn something by watching this movie. There are lessons of life to be learned and you can come away feeling very satisfied that your time was well spent.

This is one of those movies where after watching it you say, "Wow."

If you like a decent story line with realistic fight scenes like in Twilight Samurai, The Hidden Blade and Love and Honour you might like this movie as well.

But if you like lots of wire work and long fighting scenes with lots of unrealistic moves then watch your typical mainstream HK movies such as Legend of the Fist, Once Upon a Time in China and Iron Monkey.

Simple.

Just because it's a martial arts films doesn't mean we have to throw them all into one category. They are completely different types of movies. It all depends what you prefer or what you're in the mood of.

Personally, I wish they made more movies like this.

It's hardly that there's no worth here, but it's a picture torn in different directions. How much of it can be attributed to screenwriter George Iida and how much to director Nagasaki Shunichi I do not know, but I believe they both share responsibility in various degrees for how this was shaped. We have, in turn, a wartime drama of the Japanese Imperial Army requisitioning dojo across the nation, speaking to a conflict of values and world views, and otherwise domestic turmoil of the time. We have the sensei wishing to impart certain values to his pupils, suggesting a quiet drama examining what karate truly means to its practitioners and the culture from which it derives. And we have the connoted premise of that sensei's top three pupils, Taikan, Giryu, and Choei, squaring up against each other to determine their sensei's rightful successor - a fighting movie, and ostensibly one reduced to its core components as actual martial arts practitioners fill the primary roles. These are all worthy ideas for cinematic storytelling, and they could possibly fit together, but I think they do so gawkily in 'Black belt,' and not entirely convincingly; I'm inclined to believe the concept could have been boiled down to a more streamlined form.

The more ideas that the feature tries to weave together, the more unwieldy it becomes, exemplified before even one-third of the runtime has elapsed when Giryu is targeted for revenge, and seen a bit later with Taikan's inner conflict, and General Goda's plans. These ungainly narrative problems are exacerbated by measured, deliberate scene writing, somewhat stilted dialogue, and probably most of all by the unnatural pacing, movement, and acting brought out out through Nagasaki's direction. The man has enjoyed an established career in the industry, so he's clearly no slouch. I don't know what happened here, but the film as we see it feels thin, wanting, and too often curiously restrained. Many moments in the direction, dialogue, scenes, acting, or even cinematography or editing are very clearly included for dramatic effect, and instead feel all the more false or even hokey. All that this needed to do was to tell a story, but choices were made throughout, in various ways, that place considerable upper limits on the title's longevity.

'Black belt' is beautifully shot, a credit to both Nagasaki and cinematographer Kaneko Masato. Even thusly impacted by the direction, the cast tends to give commendable performances, not least stars like Yagi Akihito, Naka Tatsuya, and Suzuki Yuji, who are not professional actors. The filming locations are beautiful, and the production design and art direction no less so. The fight choreography is outstanding - the most consistent highlight, and surely the best - and the action is all the sharper for the fact that the editing and cinematography do not chop up these sequences to hide pulled punches as too often happens in modern fare as a substitute for, you know, actual combat. Employed somewhat sparingly and judiciously, where Sato Naoki's music rears its head (more notably at some points more than others), it's a terrific and enticing complement to the proceedings. There really are superb ideas in Iida's screenplay. I actually do like this movie, and as the length draws on it arguably gels more, and finds more strength. All this just makes it all the more unfortunate that the strength is rather variable in the first place, and continues to be so. Even at its best, all the plot elements do not necessarily come together with flawless cohesiveness.

Stupendously dramatic and genuinely impactful at its best, I want to like it more than I do. At its worst this raises a quizzical eyebrow - even at the promised climax, honestly - and maybe I'm being too generous in my assessment. There is lasting with here, but I'm of the mind that in its writing and direction alike it needed to be tightened, more focused, and much more mindful. 'Black belt' is worth watching on its own merits if you have the opportunity to check it out, but don't go out of your way for it; save it for a quiet day, and sit for it with tempered expectations, and that may be the best way to get the most out of your viewing experience.

Tracked it down because one blogger named it one of the top MA movies of all time. No, sorry. On the plus side, was great to see real practitioners on screen. (Unlike the zillion dollar hit series Cobra Kai, for eg). But the story did not not work for me. A martial art known worldwide for strikes ... but the student cannot strike? The trope of the wounded fighter getting shelter from the common folk was used successfully in several Jet Li films ... but completely misses the mark here. And the ending was also disappointing. (WARRIOR 2011 heads my list of the best 165+ films ever -- check it out).

The lead actors are real-life Karate masters - Tatsuya Naka (7th Dan JKA Shotokan karate, Akihito Yagi (7th Dan Meibukan Goju-ru Karate), and Yuji Suzuki (1st Dan Kyokushin karate) and action consists of authentic karate techniques.

The acting and plot are engaging on their own - but if you're done some karate in your life, it's even more satisfying.