Ichi

Imagine if Zatoichi the Blind Swordsman had an adopted daughter that was also blind and that he taught his sword skills. Also imagine that he left her at goze house as he went out on his travels, and she grew up to be a skilled musician. That's basically Ichi, a satisfying spin on the long-running saga of the blind swordsman.

The plot centers on Ichi's search for Zatoichi (who has been missing for quite some time), her tragic back-story, a feud between two yakuza gangs in an inn town, and a traveling warrior that eventually befriends Ichi. Haruka Ayase makes for a good (and absolutely gorgeous) Ichi, and plays her as soft-spoken, reserved and stoic while letting her determination, dangerousness, and lighter side break through when appropriate. Ayase is also great in the action scenes, which are pretty well done and bloody without crossing the line into gory. 

I liked Ichi. There's nothing groundbreaking about it, but I enjoyed the characters (even though the antagonists are unfortunately two dimensional) and the balance between fighting and character development/story is excellent. This isn't a pure action film by any means, it's fairly leisurely-paced outside of action scenes (Ichi doesn't play around with her enemies). There's more than enough here to make the story of the blind swordsman(woman) worth visiting again.

Swordplay movies can come with pretty high standards, and the kind of production that might have been forgiven with 50s and 60s epics have to be rethought as we approach modern treatments. Fact is, ICHI is a fairly traditional version of the Blind Swordsman, though Haruka Ayase has a one-two punch of strong acting and good lucks. Dressed in rags, glowering, and compelling, Ayase is entirely convincing. Takao Osawa has winning chemistry with co-star, playing the drifter who had accidentally blinder his mother years before.

The swordplay sequences are shot in mixed slow and regular motion, digital blood spurting everywhere. Despite the carnage, her blade is always clean, her fingernails perfectly manicured, and always looking breathtaking under the worst of situations. ICHI is not, however, about realism; it's an adventure-romance, and anyone looking for complete accuracy will be disappointed. The real problem comes with the villains - Riki Takeuchi, usually good with pulp roles, overdoes his role as baddie - a fault that's shared by other antagonists.

The most satisfying swordplay yarns have original writing along with thrilling fights, but ICHI only the second part of the formula. As a result, the story is agreeable albeit rather ordinary.

Ichi is supposed to be a remake of Zatoichi but for some reason I feel that its more like the 1st Crimson Bat movie.

I think a lot of the negative reviews is because of its inevitable (since it claims to be a zatoichi remake) comparison to Zatoichi. The characters are of course blind but while the zatoichi characters have mannerism such as the way he acted, the facial expressions and the way he talked. This Ichi is totally devoid of all personality. Ichi's features range from wooden stoic to wooden sadness to wooden expressionless. Her speech is in monotone and her action/motion are no different from people with vision, except for the cane.

However if you compare it to Crimson Bat it becomes better. The plot and character becomes almost similar, abandoned by parent and took up Goze as a living. Travelling in search of the parent. The unseeing open eyes and expressionless face (although Crimson Bat still shows more personality). Even the gambling sequence where she wins by listening to the dice.

The actions scenes with Ichi are not bad, nice quick and slow motioned sequence. One cut type kills. But the action sequence are far in between. But the part where she fights the main baddie is weak.

A well shot movie thats worth a watch. Just don't compare it to Zatoichi.

I had totally forgotten about Zatoichi until I saw some of the other reviews. But there were no similarities btw the two films, and I don't think there were supposed to be either. So this film stands on its own merits (or lack thereof).

Ichi starts off kind of weak, with some hokey dialogue. But the hokey dialogue does play off as somewhat endearing btw Toma, the insecure samurai trainee and Ichi, the cold and bleak musician. The story and the relationship btw Toma and Ichi are developed decently, so we are kept interested in the movie throughout. However, the film's pacing is rather clunky and some of the symbolic imagery and the profound dialogue isn't set up well and comes across rather forced. It's almost as if the director is making up for plot holes by inserting random bits of poetic images and dialogue that aren't set up well and don't make that much sense.

The action is more or less decent, but the climactic fight scenes are too short and simplistic. All in all, it's not a great action film, not a great romance, and not a great drama, although it aspires to be all three. It's a film that's OK for killing time with, but I wouldn't set aside any part of your day with it.

About a blind but deadly woman forsaken by her home-village and a man she meets on the way.

It's not packed with non-stop action it's more story based than it is action based but the action that there is is really well orchestrated.

The story packs plenty of emotion, possibly a bit depressing for some people but I enjoyed it.

The acting, cinematography, music, editing etc is all good even if the second half gets a little too slow at times but one could argue that it needed to be, anyway yeah overall it's a stellar piece of work that should satisfy your samurai-movie needs.