Kamui, le ninja solitaire

Epic in scope, aesthetically pleasing, gloriously violent, and just a little bonkers at times, Kamui The Lone Ninja possesses many of the attributes that would usually qualify a film as a classic in my book. Sadly, despite these positives, the film fails to achieve 'must-see' status thanks to an overlong running time and its god-awful CGI effects, which frequently and mercilessly shatter the illusion of fantasy. It's extremely frustrating to suspend disbelief and immerse oneself in a mythical cinematic realm, only to be regularly jolted back to reality by the glaringly obvious use of horrendous digital trickery, and it makes the overall experience less than satisfying.

Rarely do I place so much importance on seemingly trifling technical matters—after all, I've thoroughly enjoyed many a film with worse special effects—but against Kamui's sublime, natural scenery and its visually-arresting, heavily saturated seascapes, the crappy CGI is just too jarring to forgive. Kamui's advanced ninja moves performed during a treetop battle are simply abysmal; the scaling of a sheer cliff-face by Kamui sees the ninja move in the manner of a Looney Tunes cartoon character; and the less said about the dreadful shark hunting scenes, the better.

I do, admittedly, feel a little mean for berating Kamui so much for its shoddy effects—I actually liked many of the more dramatic scenes—so by way of recompense, I hereby award it the title of 'Second Best Martial Arts Movie to Feature a Scene of Gratuitous Horse Dismemberment' (the equine decapitation in Ringo Lam's Burning Paradise narrowly beating Kamui's severed horse leg to first place).

After reading the other (positive) reviews, I am still unclear what redeeming qualities this film (purportedly) has. I am particularly boggled by the fact that some of the previous reviewers argued that the film was worth a watch or even deserved to be considered a "classic" (really?) without supplying any explanations or actual reasons, nor provide a comparison between this film and other films in the same genre (although, in what genre would this film really belong? 'Trashbin flicks'?). In fact, I wonder if we actually sat through the same film.

To provide a quick synopsis, the film has a premise (a rogue ninja hunted by other ninjas, trying to find a 'safe harbour'), but no plot. The story meanders through a series of cliché scenes with predictable outcomes, occasionally interrupted by people flying on wires performing 'special moves' that needed a narrator's help to explain (I guess if you like being treated as an idiot, this film might be for you...), ridiculous twists with nonsensical motivations, and animal cruelty that even I--someone not anything close to being a card-carrying member of PETA--found rather distasteful.

At some point, the only way to rationalize why we continue to subject ourselves to this filmatic torture was to find some small solace in nit-picking the technical errors and nonsensical development of the story. For example, I don't think the writer actually understood -how- crucifixion works as a form of capital punishment (puncturing the prisoner's body actually works to undermine its effects), and I particularly didn't think it was good parenting to have your 14 old year daughter take off her cloth and use her body to warm a stranger of sketchy background.

I've never read the manga, and after watching this film, I have no desire to. So if translating the manga into film was intended to extend and expand the franchise, it's failed to do that with me. I am not sure how anyone but the most fervent fans of the manga series might find this film appealing. If you have an attention span of longer than 3 minutes, I recommend you avoid this mess altogether.

A tight schedule meant missing out on this at TIFFCOM last year, but I suppose the strength of popular Japanese actor Ken'ichi Matsuyama's name alone meant that it had a good chance of making it back to Singapore, and the full house this afternoon is just testament of that. Being the chameleon, Matsuyama makes quite an impression as the titular Fugitive Ninja who yearns for the freedom of his dream, but gets continuous hunted down by enemies who want a piece of him. So goes the martial arts world, where the only rule is to kill or be killed.

I haven't read the manga by Sampei Shirato on which Kamui is based on, but that shouldn't deter anyone game for a ninja flick. However, this is not like any conventional ninja film that I've grown accustomed to, and one of the prime reasons is that the exponents skilled in the art of ninjitsu don't wear black (just like how cliché it is when gangsters have to be decked out in black tie), but are decked in a variety of fancy garb that is functional to hide a multitude of weapons. For the uninitiated like me, you'll get the lowdown on our hero's origins through a series of battles which also serve to showcase his signature skills like Mist Kill, so that will bring you up to speed on things, and whet your appetite for more conflicts to come so that Kamui gets a reason to unsheathe his sword.

The story however turns out to be quite episodic in nature, since Kamui has the legs for an extended franchise of films, and this one being but a snapshot of his life on the run. It's extremely miserable because there is nobody Kamui can trust, and whenever he gets comfortable with someone, they fall to their demise, like a curse that he and his loved one cannot escape from. Such is the nature of this story, making him quite the cynic with a profound taste of mistrust toward anyone, being on the run in both literal and figurative terms. But an encounter with a fisherman Hanbei (Kaoru Kobayashi) who had just chopped off the leg of a horse belonging to a nobleman (see if you can spot Anna Tsuchiya from Sakuran in a role without dialogue!) brings Kamui to Henta's fishermen village, and here he meets an enemy from the past (played by Koyuki of The Last Samurai fame, and last seen in Blood the Last Vampire) and a potential to change his life for the better through a loved one in Sayaka (Suzuka Ohgo), Henta's daughter.

With a runtime of two hours, the story admittedly does get a little bloated as we explore the themes of family and that sense of belonging, before it picks up through the introduction of a group of pirates led by Fudo (Hideaki Ito). For some reason there's this very violent attitude and nature toward animals in the film, and although everything is vividly CG-ed with incredible detail, shark lovers may be up in arms over how they get violently depicted (think Jaws with more murderous intent), and then callously dispatched through dismemberment and bludgeoning to the skull. That aside, humans too get killed in quite graphic methods since everyone kills without remorse as a means to survive.

Thankfully the fight action choreography is top notch. For those tired of quick cuts and edits, or angles that get just too close for comfort and clarity, the techniques here, although spruced up with some wirework and CG, satisfies in abundance. Sensible angles and camera-work allow you to witness battles as if you get ring side seats, and the action gets progressively better, culminating in the final showdown between Kamui and his chief enemy here (no, I won't reveal who), which is a delight to watch, and frankly, I'd watch this show again just to partake in another round of the beautifully designed final fight.

Ekin Cheng has a bit role here, although I'm not quite sure what value he adds to the story since he didn't actually get to see much action, other than to assure audiences that he'll probably get more screen time should a follow up film be made. A passable story that I think its manga followers will get a kick out of, with outstanding CG work to bring to life a period world with fantastic pugilists.

"No matter how much we fight it, we can't never be human."

Two things hurt Kamui Gaiden pretty badly, in my eyes. A wretchedly bad subtitle job that makes the story practically incomprehensible at times, and some very poorly done special effects and CGI that make every action sequence look fake. 

Even these flaws could be somewhat ignored if Kamui shined in other areas, and thankfully, it does manage a glimmer or two. After the poorly told back-story is out of the way, the plot settles down into a more straightforward tale. The fights still aren't all that amazing and the special effects are still just as conspicuous, but the story of Kamui does strike a few chords as he tries to escape from his past and meets people who he starts to care for, and who are put in danger by the runaway ninja's very presence. 

Check this out if you're starved for some ninja action, but Kamui Gaiden is not a masterpiece by any definition.

This is a film about a ninja called Kamui who decides he doesn't want to be a ninja anymore, problem is, you're not allowed to leave. So death in all it's forms is going to come for Kamui throughout this film. This spawns the familiar trope of the hero who stays alive but gets everyone around him, including his loved ones, killed (like the hardboiled American cop who goes through a fistful of partners as if they were dimes for the telephone). Kamui reminds me of a deciduous tree, the trunk of which remains strong and constant, but whose leaves eventually wilt and abscice. The bounteous autumnal melange of colours preceding the winter barrenness.

It's chambara here all the way, and as it's very ambitious, it's often CGId - wire work can only take you so far in the arena of awesome stunts. The fighters here have really pretty much supernatural skills that make Crouching Tiger look positively undercooked. There's some fun stuff that Kamui fights with, including a knuckleduster with triangular ridges, that can be used for parrying sword blows (though you'd better be pretty accurate with those parries...)

As Kamui (Ken'ichi Matsuyama) is a really rather sullen character, who has appeal more as a heartthrob to potential androphile members of the audience, much of the ready humour in the film is delegated to supporting actors including Kaoru Kobayashi (as Hanbei the fisherman), and Hideaki Ito (as Lord Fudoh, the incredibly appealing and roguish pirate captain).

There's a side story in the movie about a gaily apparelled and brutally petulant daimyo lord. The stories do crossover, but I think the daimyo strand is more there for contrast, the kind of easy god-like existence of the highly undeserving daimyo, with the bleak struggle to survive of Kamui. After all the main threat for Kamui is the ninja fraternity, he's not even a speck on the daimyo's radar.

There's this thing in Japanese movies where they like to confront characters with a personal hell (one of the few Japanese words I regularly recognise in Japanese movies is jigoku - hell). There's a quite effective example of that in this movie.

All in all I would tend to say this movie overdoes the CGI, you can see stuff like waves that leave no filmy coating on surfaces after they recede, and you think hang on why are they using CGI for ... water. It is however highly enjoyable.

One last note is that someone behind the movie should learn a little bit more about shark behaviour maybe, the scenes with them in are funny, but they behave so stupidly and atypically here that it is a little bewildering, even within the encapsulated cinematic world of reduced realism.