Verdict:
Stoic staredowns are followed by sword fights, in which one cool guy carves through a whole group of enemies. Streams of computer-generated blood swoosh loudly. Zatoichi slices a rock statue in half at one point. Zatoichi is live-action anime.
The plot is simple and reminiscent of Kurasawa’s Yojimbo. Zaitochi, a blind masseur, who is also an excellent swordsman, arrives in a town ran by the local mafia. He meets a few curious characters and starts dismantling the criminal gangs.
The plot is simple but well built. Zaitochi comes to town and hears a story after a story told by those who have suffered at the hands of the local mafia boss. An exception to the orderly construction are the flashbacks, which seem out of place at times and break up the pacing. There are a few well-placed jokes and even whole scenes devoted to a joke, giving the movie a more colourful flavour. I appreciated the darkness of the humour.
The characters are all very macho, as is reprpesentative of many Manga action characters. Everyone’s true strength and skill is hidden and they wait until the last moment to show it off. Takeshi Kitano is an excellent Zatoichi.
This reviewer feels unfit to discuss the dialogue in a movie like this. A lot could go wrong. The English subtitles can easily fail to catch the nuance of the Japanese phrases. On top of that, the film uses the jidaigeki style, which can come off as weird or pretentious to modern audiences. Sometimes, the words are given less polish because they are considered of secondary importance to physical acting. And sometimes, the writing just isn’t great.
The action consists of a combination of good sword choreography, some of the worst special effects I’ve ever seen in a movie and exaggerated sound effects. Wounds and blood have all been badly drawn with the help of a PC. And this is a big problem for an action-movie. Zaitochi is a very bloody film, but the violence doesn’t impress, because it’s so clearly fake. It’s possible that the excessive effects are on purpose, to copy the exaggerated style of Japanese anime, but it just doesn’t work. The cinematography, on the other hand, is impressive and memorable. If Kitano, who also wrote and directed it, had opted for physical special effects, this film would have been far mor impressive.
The film is flawed with strange phrasing, occasional pacing issues and really distracting special effects. I am not sure I understand the multiple international awards, but inspite of its flaws, Zatoichi is an entertaining Samurai film.