| Arno Ching-wan | 1.25  |
|
| Astec | 1.25 | |
| drélium | 1.25 |
|
| François | 3 | |
| Ghost Dog | 3.5 | |
| jeffy | 4.75  |
|
| Junta | 1.75 | |
| Marc G. | 0.5 |
|
| MLF | 3.75 | |
| Ordell Robbie | 0.25 |
|
| VincentP | 4.25 |
A dementedly refined mangaesque swordplay debauchery. |
I didn't think much of Versus back then, with its dragging plot and overstylised gyroscopic camera moves, but I was still curious enough to check this new Kitamura venture. Azumi is an adaptation of the manga created by a certain Yu Koyama, which is said to be immensely popular in Japan. The action starts after the bloody battle of Sekigahara in 1600, which determined the governance of the country for more than two hundred years. The warrior Gessai, who has lost his son in the conflict, is begged to train a body of highly-skilled assassins whose goal is to prevent any warlord from stirring any further massacre. Azumi, a young orphan, turns out to be the most dreadful of them all. The lead role is held by a Japanese idol, which was another concern of mine as those kind of actors usually have just enough talent to look good on pictures, and her costumes for the film looked rather tacky on the snapshots that went round.
But to my utmost surprise, I was to find out that the film didn't look that bad after all, and what's more, that it really turned out to be impressively entertaining! There are still a certain number of flaws in the succession of events as they are related by the present storyline, but the visual richness makes up for this minor imperfection. Indeed, there's an array of gorgeous costumes and sets which almost elevate the film to the level of a kurosawian epic production-wise. And the bloodshed, well no surprise here, there are gallons of it, and the action scenes are the most subtle I have seen in a long time. This almost suicidal assasination attempt and intrusion in the enemy camp from Gessai and his remaining pupils after he has dismissed Azumi are quite stunning, and I really can't help thinking the whole Kill Bill thing is weak in comparison. As for the cinematographic techniques that I for one regarded as extremely pompous in Versus, I really have to admit there has been a tremendous improvement since then. The result looks more sober but no less sophisticated as it were, and the use of CGI sequences fit the manga spirit of the film perfectly. The characters have a similar very pleasant cartoon-like aspect, the monkey ninja guy in particular. And Joe Odagiri portrays a very convincing sadistic looney. An entertaining flick all in all.
