not the ending, not the begging but the WHOLE picture sucked a$$
the story was boring, with a boring location and setting, not very good actors, and those RIDICULOUS rythm/dance scenes. what was that?!?!?!? I mean, the final dance scene, the people building the house and stupid people dancing in the middle of the muddy field.
this is a waste of time.
didn't deserve all those awards.
NOTHING beats Hero and House of Flying Daggers
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"not very good actors".
Oh boy, you are an idiot.
I worked the DC Film Festival in 2003 when this movie came here, and it was a made sellout. They made a extra showing for it. I enjoyed it, but like on poster said, the story wasn't engrossing, lacked good pacing, and tension. I did llike it...but I didn't think it was ALL that.
shareIt's a very good movie in my opinion but then I only have a moderate knowledge of Japanese cinema (mostly Kurosawa and Kitano with some Miike, Battle Royale (along with fa versions like Tokyo 11) etc thrown in).
I though Kitano played Zatoichi with a knowing wit and a sense of humour. I think the pacing was good (if anything a little fast, Japanese cinema is at it's best when slow and introspective) and the acting, especially from the two leads was strong. Of course it won't be to everyone's tastes, whether "action action action VIN DIEEESEL!!!!" types, or probably to those with a dep appreciation of Japanese and Far Eastern cinema, but to someone like me who is looking more and more into the present and history of Japanese, Hong Kong, Chinese and Korean cinema, it really really is an excellent piece of art and performance.
And the dance number at the end of the movie was fantastic. Great fun.
In fact only the CGI blood was a downer.
The rain battle shot was partly done in homage to Kurosawa anyway (fight scene combined with rain/forces of nature) and showed Zatoichi at his best, to show why he could compete with the Ronin Samurai.
Anyway Kitano has an incredible sense of humour though it's quite bizarre and dry at times. For example, half of Sonatine is blackly hilarious and his performance in Battle Royale switched between shocking, weird and the absurd.
Remembering he's equally as known in Japan for his comedy work (he did head up Takeshi's Castle afterall!)
So back to the subject, Zatoichi, for me, a mere Japanese cinema explorer, is a very strong piece of cinema indeed.
Hero and HOFD are so far removed that it's absurd to compare them. Although the cinematography used in them is second to none.
And the dance number at the end of the movie was fantastic. Great fun.Agreed. Made me smile.
In fact only the CGI blood was a downer.Agreed. On the whole, a very entertaining (8/10) movie. And I liked the (sometimes subtle) humour. share
The "don't attack all at once" joke was funny for anyone who's familiar with chambara conventions.
Everything else was bad. Just plain bad.
This movie was frickin immense, me and my friends just watched it and loved every minute of it!
shareThe CGI blood was very intentional. Kitano knows how to use blood for artistic effect (see Hana-bi, for example). He's actually said that the blood in this is intentionally fake-looking, otherwise the gore just seems way too excessive.
And I wonder how an earlier poster thinks Kitano took all the humour out of the character? The painted-on eyes? The very end (slipping on the stone)? Come on! That stuff was hilarious.
i agree with you that this was an aweful picture, but for different reasons. i actually enjoyed some of the more stylized parts like dancing in the field, but i think takeshi's ego is so overblown that he let his own legend destroy a classic. i actually liked his take on ichi as a character, but the way he added a few twists on the character really upset me. i won't spoil the ending by revealing the major twist, but the sole fact that he believes himself worthy to make such a bold addition and alteration to the series makes me wonder why he thinks he carries the required clout. and i'm not unfamiliar with takeshi's work.
there were plenty of things wrong with this movie, but it wasn't because it was boring with boring actors/locations and whatever else you were spewing. of course hero was a beautifully shot movie, but if that is what you compare this movie to, you are missing a pretty large boat.
your conclusions were right about this film, but i have a strange suspicion that you are a moron.
mh. You have to watch the movie till the very last minute. Kitano is _not_ boldly twisting the caracter in any way...(except for hairstyle and the red cane maybe)
Zatoichi is and remains blind...thats why he stumbles in the last picture...being blind doesn´t however prevent you from opening your eyelids to confuse people...
The dancing scene in and the CGI-blood only show that he doesn´t take his work and, more important himself too seriously...an attitude that many people sadly lack nowadays...his ego is not overblown at all...he shows deep appreciation of the old masters by referencing their works.
As always...humor and humility mark the true master...only a beginner will be anal in sticking to a certain scheme laid out by somebody else.
...This movie is meant to be enjoyed, not to be a gritty serious chanbara tale.
and it is awesome, although his best movies are Dolls and HanaBi
God I hated this movie, I was expecting much more from Takeshi Kitano, this was terribly done. Though he was the best part of the movie, this movie was bad. I don't think anyone should watch it. The action isn't great its all quick milisecond chops. The story was badly pulled off. God I dislike this movie.
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It's a fine tasteful and well executed movie.
I won't answer 1 by 1 all the bs I read in the negative comments, but I'll try to answer them in a nutshell.
The movie is sort of a movie made like a theater play, or a play made like a movie as you like.
The dancing interludes (like the farmers working in the land, dancing in the mud, the guys building the house), IMHO are meant to be like "little pauses" in which the "acts" are separated from one another. The music itself and how it's matched with the images make a beautiful audiovisual combination, and prepare you for the next act just as in theater plays. If you haven't watched a play other than back where you were in the highschool (performed by amateurish teens) you won't know what I'm talking about. The tap dance in the end, is not at all out of context, as there's a long tradition of tap dancing in Japan. Again , like in a play , you can see all actors in the end (well sort of adapted to the musical interludes, dancing and celebrating the harvest).
I'm not a big fan either of music or singing in movies (I actually hate when they do that), and yet the director has managed to spice the movie with music and dancing in a nice way that I didn't find boring at all.
The movie has lots of what some guys refered to in this thread as "lame humour". Well, you know not every humorous detail in every movie has to be performed by Leslie Nielsen (with fart noises in the background wearing a big chicken suit) and make you roll on the floor laughing your sides off. It's a serious movie mostly from a detached point of view with bits of humoristic touches, which I found nice too.
As for the blood effects, I heard on the extra contents of the DVD that they were made to emulate "roses blossom" , whatever that means, so it's made unreal on purpose and that's why the strange splash and dinamics of the blood.
Also , as in lots of japanese movies, the are things left on purpose ambigous and open for interpretation. There are various examples of this in many good movies as well, so no, I refuse to think as well about this as a negative thing.
A master piece? I don't really know, but it was hell of a nicely executed movie which enjoyed me for the whole length. Not for the casual viewer eyes looking for insta-fun and brain-oblivion. If you are not about tasteful little detail movies, I recommend most Leslie Nielsen movies which might be more of the taste of some viewers here (nothing wrong with comedies but you know what I mean).
Bear in mind after all it's a japanese movie after all, not a western sword fight film, and that shows.
Sorry for the wall of text, but I felt necessary to say all these things :-)
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Segmentation fault. Core dumped.
I generally don't say much when it comes to criticizing a movie, however some people here defend it way too much and give it a lot of credit =/ having posters even to hinting it as a misunderstood masterpiece!
The action sequences made with CGI wasn't the best choice imo, considering that some sequences where very hard to follow and in some cases they looked very unnatural.
The ending bit with the hip-hop bits and turntables made me completely disconnect from the film. I don't know about you but if i ever watch a movie of a guy in the 1920's and in the movie he uses a cell phone and logs on into the internet, i would say the movie was pretty bad...
If you are not about tasteful little detail movies, I recommend most Leslie Nielsen movies which might be more of the taste of some viewers here (nothing wrong with comedies but you know what I mean).
Like you just did I'm going to ignore all your comments and just go for one out of context sentence.
Passive-Aggressive undertone here?
Look, I merely talked about the things that bothered me with the movie, the rest was ok. I wasn't really against anything you said (yes, i did read it all *gasp*), only the last bit felt it was a tad unnecessary and i commented on it and that was it...
I still think this movie is average, the humor was ok and Takeshi was convincing in his role but that was it.
yeah..... all the other complete idiots like you.
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