Zatoichi

Pomidor · Post by **Pomidor** » Fri Mar 19, 2004 11:29 am

I just saw Zatoichi. I quite liked it. An "old-school" ronin/samurai film, always a fav, and I really like the lead actor, he has been one of my favourite actors for a long time and Im was happy to see him on the big screen.
The basic story is of a blind massour (Zatoichi), who is hunting down a local gang (for unknown reasons); two siblings whose life has been destroyed by the gang in the past; and a ronin who hires himself out as a bodyguard. I wont reveal more of the story as to not spoil it, but the general plot should be clear. The film was based on a book I belive and unfortunatelly it comes through in a bad way. If you watch the movie carefully the three stories have a lot os symbolism and metaphor for life and ideals of Japan during that time. Sadly in the movie it has been so diluted that unless you do watch carefully you will miss all that, not only that but when watching the movie you can feel that there should be so much more depth to the story. Its as if they started with good raw material ( a good story) but had to cut everything short to compress it all into under 2 hours.
Perhaps this critisism was a bot harsh, the movie is very enjoyable to watch, and what I mentioned above isnt too much of an eyesore. The one real problem that i have with the movie is that although the swordplay is very well done, the actual cutting/puncturing and blood was done with a computer and it often just look... fake.. and not fake like "oh thats impossible" but rather fake as in if you took a still of the moment it would look like a really bad Photoshop job. But you kind of get used to it and turn a blind eye.
All in all a good movie, that is very reminiscent of such classics as "The 7 Samurai" or "Yojimbo" but will never become such a classic itself.

Pomdiro

Wolfette · Post by **Wolfette** » Fri Mar 19, 2004 1:02 pm

Moved this to the reviews area. ^_^

monkeyboy · Post by **monkeyboy** » Mon Mar 22, 2004 9:31 pm

Pomidor wrote:

I just saw Zatoichi. I quite liked it. An "old-school" ronin/samurai film, always a fav, and I really like the lead actor, he has been one of my favourite actors for a long time and Im was happy to see him on the big screen.

Was this in a movie theater?

Is this a remake of the "Blind Swordsman" series of the 1960? The story sounds the same as one of the movies from that set of Zatoichi films, which I love.

BTW If you get a chance rent them, they are great! Or sometimes each Sat. they're run along with "Seven Samurai" and other classic samurai movies on the IFC network.

Pomidor · Post by **Pomidor** » Tue Apr 06, 2004 5:37 am

I totaly omited looking at this section for a couple for a couple of weeks, so I missed your question. Gomen Gomen

To anwser your first question, yes I saw it in the theater. And yes I think it is a remake of the Blind Swordsman, but I only saw one episode so Im not 100% sure. The movie is good and if you saw the Blind Swordsman series you will probably appreciate it more, all in all its worthwhile to watch. Hope that helps ^_^

Pomidor

monkeyboy · Post by **monkeyboy** » Tue Apr 06, 2004 10:40 am

arigatou Pomidor,

I'll keep an eye out for it at my local theaters! Yeah I enjoyed the Blind Swordsman series. Glad to see that they brought it back. I hope they do more too!

Hakiri · Post by **Hakiri** » Wed Dec 22, 2004 1:29 pm

I loved Zatoichi. It was incredible to me, and every part of it was exciting. I am hoping to see it for a second time soon.

kittens · Post by **kittens** » Wed Dec 22, 2004 1:48 pm

It is suppose to be a TV series (of course, I saw re-run when I was a kind).... There must be DVD series (I think in Japanese...).

BTW, talking about samurai show, my fav is "onihei hankacho" (not older version but newer one).
It is based on real historucal person and each story is excellent

indy · Post by **indy** » Wed Dec 22, 2004 4:00 pm

hey good to hear wanted to see it in the theatres (or ota if i wasn't sick) but missed it here.
On a side note it's on dvd, (cover looks like one of the rolling thunder presents boxes/ red bar down side)

jcaliff · Post by **jcaliff** » Wed Dec 22, 2004 4:46 pm

I'd like to see the older films. I should rent them. I don't know if I'd like Beat Takeshi in the new one. I just can't imagine him in the role. Just like I have a hard time with Shingo Katori in the Taiga Shinsengumi drama. It just doesn't work for me.

kenshikenji · Post by **kenshikenji** » Mon Jan 03, 2005 5:35 pm

i love beat takeshi, but i didnt like this remake, mainly because that first cgi blood scene ruined the whole movie, not to mention that im partial to the original actor as masseur ichi.

Pomidor · Post by **Pomidor** » Fri Jan 07, 2005 4:38 pm

kenshikenji wrote:i love beat takeshi, but i didnt like this remake, mainly because that first cgi blood scene ruined the whole movie, not to mention that im partial to the original actor as masseur ichi.

Im a big Beat Takeshi fan as well, great actor. And I know what you mean abou the cgi blood, not very good. The movie was good, but I still wouldnt put it above somthing like the seven samurai. But then again will the films that are coming out now... like christmas with the cranks and surviving christmas and all that stuff.. Zatoichi really stands out, lol.

SmacznyPomidor

In_Gabriel_We_Trust · Post by **In_Gabriel_We_Trust** » Mon Apr 11, 2005 1:39 am

It was a strange film to say the least. Quite funny though.

hobbywhelmed · Post by **hobbywhelmed** » Tue Dec 27, 2005 11:26 pm

I was looking forward to seeing this movie, having seen most of the original series on IFC (Samurai Saturdays, yay!). But while the supporting cast was quite good, Beat Takeshi was just so wooden in the part, compared to the original actor. There was none of the humor there, or any of the depth.

I really hate it when they make "tribute remakes" and the movie is just not up to it. The original series is out on DVD, or you can wait until IFC cycles back to them. (Although the series also had disappointments in its latter part. Somebody thought it would be a great idea to "revitalize" the series and to do a Zatoichi/Yojimbo movie with Toshiro Mifune. True, the copy I saw wasn't the best quality, and that can affect one's viewing pleasure sometimes, but, really, it was a soulless, forced lurch of a plot, with neither actor getting a good juicy bit out of it.)

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Zatoichi

Zatoichi

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