don't fight with the blind
Next up: Zatoichi. Some structure spoilers here in so, you have been warned. Zatoichi is a blind masseur that also proves to be quite hand with a sword.
There have already been quite a lot of Zatoichi-movies and due to this and their impact lot of people thought it would be nuts to make a new one. Especially without any of the people from the previous ones. This is of course idiocy, the only thing one should consider is if it’s going to be a good movie or not. Other than that it can be a moviesation of the Prisoner (which Patrick McGoohan actually wanted to do a few years ago) or a remake of or a remake of Buckaroo Banzai. As long as they’re good, it’s fine. That’s all that really matters. And here it’s not as if the story is the same as those other movies.
People, fickle beings, have also said negative things about the dance performance at the end. And I wonder which movie they saw before that. Dance and rhythm is very important throughout the entire movie. It also serves as a plot-element, but I leave that for the rest of you to figure out.
But the movie is good but at a few time—very few—I wished they had used “real” blood instead of the computer generated substitute. It is less blood than in Tarantino’s Kill Bill but this means that it can be used to a much greater dramatic effect. And I can’t help the feeling that they tried to show ima in the duel scene.
This could very much be one of the best movies Takeshi Kitano has made so far. It seems to me as he’s found the mix between his different modes. There’s comedy, drama and violence. As if that wasn’t enough, the acting, script and directing—everything fits.
