Encontro de Gigantes

this may not be the best zatoichi title, hindered by a complicated plot and an unusually long runtime (116 mins), but it's easily an 8/10 compared to other zatoichi films (1989's 'zatoichi' being the worst and a 1 out of 10). if you're a zatoichi fan you are not allowed to miss this one or you're out of the club.

shintaro katsu and toshiro mifune are in excellent form and their presence alone makes it worth seeing. both of them look great. mifune is in his post-kurosawa days, but still in his prime and his face is aged to perfection.

don't expect a kurosawa film––this series was made as entertainment, not art. of course yojimbo is a better film, but this is every bit as funny and entertaining.

This film brings together two of the greatest characters created in Japanese cinema. Zatoichi (Shintaro Katsu) is the blind swordsman who goes back to a village that he remembers as peaceful and tranquil. It has been two to three years since his last visit and he longs to get away from the constant attacks that plague him on a daily basis, as he has a price on his head. But all is not as he remembers. When he arrives to his beloved village, he finds it is torn between a father and son that have their own gangs involved in their own family feud. As a result, the village is torn between the two men as the son seeks his father's gold (which may or may not exist).

As the blind masseur becomes involved in the midst of this feud, the son's hired bodyguard (Toshiro Mifune) is introduced. Mifune ever-so-slightly reprises his role from the Akira Kurosawa films, Yojimbo and Sanjuro. It's not the exact same character, but only the most devout film buffs would see the subtle differences. As the Yojimbo discovers just who Zatoichi is and the price on his head, the two banter back and forth with threats and insults and even a few sword fights as the plot thickens.

The film keeps you guessing until the very end as to whether or not these two samurai masters will end up friends or foes. All the while, Shintaro Katsu and Toshiro Mifune give master performances in their roles as usual. What Toshiro Mifune brings to this long running series of films is a stark contrast to Shintaro Katsu's simple and quiet Zatoichi. Toshiro Mifne's Yojimbo is harsh, loud, and aggressive when comparing the two. Putting these two great actors together, while playing off one another, results in a well balanced and enjoyable opposition. We all know who the hero is but what happens between these two? Do they find resolution or does it all end in a bitter and bloody sword battle? The only way to find out is to watch.

I enjoyed this film immensely. I cannot recommend it enough to fans of Japanese period films, Zatoichi fans, or Toshiro Mifune fans. If any of those appeal to you, then you owe it to yourself to watch this film. You will find nothing but sheer delight in this great masterpiece. This is also a great entry into the Zatoichi films. Even though this is a sequel you will not be lost by starting with this film in the series. This marks the 20th film of the Shintaro Katsu Zatoichi films. It was originally shot in 1965 in color and is in Japanese with the optional English subtitles. The transfer to DVD has been masterfully handled by AnimEigo and the translation is great. I was amazed at how crisp the picture and the sound was for being such an old film. Again I cannot recommend it enough. If you have any inclination to see this movie do not hesitate. I'm sure you will enjoy it as much as I did.

As one of the other reviews mentioned, you should really start with the original "Yojimbo" to fully appreciate the Mifune character here. However, this was my first Zatoichi story, and I enjoyed it immensely.

The two characters have a great repertoire, an uneasy adversarial partnership, further complicated by the appearance of a third mystery agent, and the various dealings of Mifune and his boss.

This particular storyline allows Mifune especially some time to explore the farther corners of his Yojimbo/Sanjuro character. We see some comedy, and even some romance... though Sanjuro might be loathe to admit it. The ending even makes sense, in a strange way, providing a possible closure on the character's fate.

Ichi and Sanjuro are funny together, and their chemistry is really entertaining. Katsu Shintaro sketches Zatoichi as both a master swordsman, and a bit of a klutz. He treads a fine comedic line between having fun at Ichi's expense, and portraying Ichi as a cleverly self-deprecating tactician.

Finally, the Chambara Entertainment version (released recently) had an excellent transfer, was widescreen, and came with a very informative little insert, explaining some of the more esoteric terms and puns. The subtitling was superb as well, using different colors to denote who was talking.

I highly reccomend this movie for fans of chambara, and especially for fans of Mifune and Shintaro! Mind you, it's not Kurosawa, but it's decently-made, and the actors are very entertaining.

Blind warrior Zatoichi returns to his hometown to find the village cowering under a gang. He tries to save the town. The thugs convinces their sensai Yojimbo to take out the newcomer for the bounty on his head. Yojimbo takes a liking to Zatoichi and has plans of his own.

It's the meeting of two legendary Japanese cinematic characters. It's sorta like Aliens vs Predator. My main complaint is that the kills aren't bloody enough. I need some more blood splatter. There is plenty of killing but I want the spray. At almost two hours, the film is a bit long. It rambles on for awhile but it's fine enough.

Zatoichi Meets Yojimbo was good as a throwaway movie-of-the-night to watch with friends (friends who were into Zatoichi and old samurai movies), but in the sense of it being something worthy of its stature, it didn't quite deliver. An issue, as some reviewers as well as author Stuart Galbraith (Emperor and the Wolf), was Toshrio Mifune wasn't playing the character really as he was in the Kurosawa films.

In the original Yojimbo and Sanjuro, Mifune crafted a true anti-hero bad-mutha samurai, who was grungy with his scratches, but also very cunning in how he could play both sides or act a little uncouth in his manipulations. Here, one just sees him acting like a stumbling drunk, and even a little like a scummy caricature of Yojimbo. Truth be told, it's meant more for Zatoichi fans- he was a HUGE title character, as played by its star Shintaro Katsu.

The problem there as well is that there have been better Zatoichi movies (I haven't even seen many, but the few I've seen, and as repetitive as they can get, aren't shoehorned plot-wise like so). And this isn't totally to put the movie down, as a cash-in flick it does attempt at making some entertaining segments (and I do like how the two of them decide at first to combine forces, so to speak).

It's entertaining enough, but should be more memorable, as other franchises can get more creative or try different ideas with their stars when trying to combine their vehicle-makers - although if you have come this far anyway with Zatoichi, why stop now. It's even sort of lackadaisically shot and edited, in a very formulaic manner.