Demon City

In a down-on-its-luck port city the world's most skillful assassin does one last job before retiring to an idyllic life of ... just kidding, obviously; within 30 minutes of his retirement some bad guys set him on the path to a decade-spanning vendetta. The story is pretty goofy. The script can't seem to decide whether or not it wants to be taken seriously and/or how overt or illusory to make its supernatural implications. Important plot points are just retconned into existence via expositional dialogue or cutaway flashbacks.

But at least there's lots of violent bloody action and the antagonists rock some decent Oni masks. It's all style and no substance but enjoyable as over-the-top fun.

I really wanted to like this. First 15-20 minutes made me feel like it could be inspired by a mix of John Wick and The Crow (original). They raised the stakes by what happened to the protagonist but we never really get the payoff from the build up. He is inexplicably invincible, even when he wants you to believe he's hurt and sadly the villains never really die. Speaking of which, they are evil to the core but then they have little back stories to make it seem like they have some sort of honour. There are some cool action sequences, and performance around the Samurai culture but overall I found this movie weird and ultimately disappointing. I had to watch John Wick after to scratch the vengeance itch it gave me.

I was expecting a decent movie, but the reason this one didn't meet my expectations is because it is too unrealistic and inconsistent. You can't wake up from 12 12-year coma and go straight into a physical contest (fight), or be able to stand on your feet and this lasts for months. The main character goes even further - he has so much blood, he can never die from blood loss (which can be said about both "The Raid" movies, but the thing is everything there is made less excessive than this movie and just better), but in one moment he can barely standing, the next he is acting like John Wick on PEDs. Don't get me wrong, everything is filmed well enough, the actors are good enough, it is just the entire concept that is poorly represented.

I have seen bad movies before, start to finish, and it is not often that I actually consider stopping before it ends.

The sheer number of deadly blows and stabs that the main character receives, yet still continues 'figthing' with speed and strength - not to mention surviving - has made this worse that some of the worse cartoons ever.

I used to think that even the worst movie can teach me something, but this one here changed that idea forever. There were so many ways in which they could have saved this from being an absolute pile of ridiculousness that I am thinking of actually starting making movies myself, and even if I get hid in the head by a horse and I lose my brain's ability to maintain bodily functions i'm sure i would still do a better job than this.

Watched this with zero prior knowledge-no trailers, no comics, just vibes. And honestly, had a blast. Sure, the plot had its fair share of questionable moments (let's just say 'suspension of disbelief' is working overtime), but who cares when the violence is stylish? Think Kill Bill meets a particularly chaotic anime fight scene, with some gorgeous one-take shots that made my inner film nerd very happy.

Special shoutout to Takuma Otoo and Miou Tanaka, who absolutely stole the show. Meanwhile, I spent half the movie wondering why the lead looked so much like Brett Yang from TwoSet Violin. Just me? Anyone?

Overall, ridiculous but ridiculously fun. Would recommend.