Death Trance: O Samurai do Apocalipse

Death Trance is from the action director of Devil May Cry 3, if you've played that game then you should know what to expect!

Death Trance is a completely O.T.T. fantasy action movie, a few have criticised the plot but I found it to be good and the humour is genuinely funny which is something that Versus failed at. If you hate the plot then rest assured, it's the crazy action scenes that provide the entertainment and there's plenty of them!

My only disappointment with the movie was Steven Seagals son, if he takes after his father then it doesn't show, he has a small action scene at the beginning, and it's nothing special.

The hero drags a coffin behind him, an overwhelming number of enemies attack him, but only when the coffin is opened, hell really breaks loose... sounds like the summary for "Django" with Franco Nero, but actually it's "Death Trance" with Tak Sakaguchi. This rare coffin motif is something that will make you remember a movie which otherwise is fun, but not outstanding. Lots of fight scenes in a fantasy world where sticks and swords meet guns, motor bikes and an ultra-cool rocket launcher. Calling it a "historical costume movie" as its star did in an interview is not quite true, but few in the audience will care about history as long as it is fun. And it sometimes really is, e.g. when Grave (Sakaguchi) enters a "saloon" followed by a maybe 6 year old girl, orders a big glass of milk for himself - while the child drinks a whiskey. Or when Grave kills vampires by biting their necks in turn. No grave yet for Grave. Don't expect a masterpiece as "Death Trance" hasn't got the depth. Still worth a look if you like such kind of things.

Watching a lot of Asian action movies lately I saw the trailer for Death Trance and thought : Wow! Sowrds, motorbikes, guns, bazookas, Breakdance mixed with martial arts. But where was the story. Well, you don't often need a story in Good action flicks, but in this case : it was absolutely senseless. One fight after the other and you don't get why. And for being the ultimate fighter who only seeks destruction I didn't really understand why does Tak leave everybody alive??? The soundtrack really hurts. In movies like Versus and Azumi I felt the heavy rock music entertaining, but here you want to turn the sound off after short time before your ears start to bleed. If you are looking for a modern Japanese action movie go for Azumi, Shinobi, Aragami. But i wouldn't recommend this; except if you are a hardcore trash fan......

I hadn't even heard about the 2005 movie "Death Trance" (aka "Desu toransu") before now late in 2019, when I was given the chance to sit down and watch it. Granted, I didn't even know what it was about or anything, but from the movie's cover it seemed like an action, martial arts and fantasy movie of sorts. Plus, my interest in Asian cinema did of course also make me pick up this movie.

Right, well I managed to get 31 minutes into the movie, well into the ordeal actually, before I called it quits. Wow, this movie was a swing and a miss.

First of all, the storyline was just abysmally boring, and it utterly failed to captivate me in any way. I kid you not, there was nothing here throughout the 31 minutes that I sat through that appealed to me in any way.

Secondly, the characters in the movie were bland and just also failed to impress. Actually, I didn't even care an ounce for the characters or their individual stories. Nor can I actually claim to be able to name the main character if you asked me about it.

"Death Trance" was definitely not my type of movie. But I will say that they should get some credit for their wardrobe and props; they were nice, at least.

All in all, this is not a movie that I will be returning to watch the rest of, as nothing appealed to me. I am rating "Death Trance" a mere three out of ten stars.

I have seen a lot of Asian films and understand that genres get mixed together a lot. But this one takes the cake. Think of putting in John Woo, Billy Idol (!), Wuxia, Kiss Me Deadly, Hellraiser, Evil Dead 2, and Mad Max into a blender and add in a heavy metal soundtrack, and this will give you just some idea of this movie.

This is directed by the person who did the fight scenes from Versus and it shows. Almost all of the fight scenes take place in a forest. Hmmm..

interesting is that there is very little bloodshed. A lot of fighting with the blunt edge of the sword!! Not sure why this was done except to cut back on some special effects.

Saw it's Southeast premiere and the audience seemed to really enjoy it too. Lots of 'ooh', laughter and clapping.. Can't remember the last time I remember that in a theater.

Forget the plot (what little there is), and marvel and sheer audacity of some of these scenes. Very enjoyable, very 'cool' and in some cases, very very funny. Just don't expect anything meaningful.