Azumi

Ryuhei Kitamura has developed quite a large cult following due to his massively entertaining genre-busting zombie/yakuza/martial arts hybrid film "Versus". Now he has given us "Azumi", a samurai film with a rock music soundtrack and young, attractive leads.

The film follows a clan of ten young assassins trained since childhood to carry out a special mission. Azumi, the lone female in the group is considered the most skilled of them all. Their master is an ex-samurai warrior who acts as a father figure to the teens. The assassins await the day of their mission with growing anticipation, until the day it finally presents itself. Their mission is to kill a shogun who is threatening to overthrow the ruling class of Japan. Quick to overestimate their own abilities, the assassins find their numbers dwindling as they battle the shogun's warriors including the sometimes-honorable, sometimes-manic ninja Saru and a mysterious feminine Samurai clad in white who's so good he has "never had to defend an attack". As things start going downhill for the assassins, Azumi begins to doubt herself and begins to long for the life of a normal Japanese woman.

This film is all about sword-fights and Kitamura delivers more than he probably should. People take on hundreds of swordsmen single-handedly and buckets of bright red gore are splashed about with every sword slash. While these fights are entertaining at first, they grow tedious as the hundredth person is killed. Not only that, but our heroes do not show any sort of skill that gives us reason to believe that they are capable of killing dozens of men effortlessly. Also, Kitamura has trouble finding the right lengths for his films. "Versus", "Alive" and "Azumi" are too long, while "Heat After Dark" is much too short. I really think if 10 minutes of slow-motion sword fights were cut this movie would flow much better.

Now, "Azumi" is not a bad movie, by any means. It's very entertaining, just a tad tedious. The characters are very unique and developed quite nicely, and Kitamura has a knack for giving us exciting camera angles. Although it does not live up to "Versus" (I didn't expect it to, and never compared the two until now) "Azumi" is still an entertaining film, and any fans of "Versus" should find "Azumi" a very good time. 7/10

Not intended to be an accurate reference to feudal Japan, this flick is great fun and worth a watch. The characters have been modeled after some modern-day Anime characters and video game heroes, and the film itself felt like a paradoxic mix between the styles of "Kinji Fukasaku" and "Akira Korosawa" to me. A mix of Japanese pop-culture set in old Japan.

The camera-work was pretty good and the soundtrack fitting. The characters were sufficiently surreal to be unbelievable, but well suited to the genre.

The is a must see!

A story about feudalism in Japan is something that I find interesting. The era, when the shogun reigned, when feudal wars sparked here and there, was full of chaos and bloodshed. "Chaos" and "bloodshed" are common catchphrases, but what draws me to these stories is that this era in Japan is something mysterious for me. Perhaps, it is the effect of the country being not too open during that period, and the main question is: What happened in Japan's deep countryside when the shoguns reigned? Although the Western world has their own share of wars, the wars in Japan were arguably more bloody and violent. When depicted in film, it becomes a piece of entertainment in many dimensions. As we all know, what usually makes these films good is a profound story about trust and betrayal, coupled with the showcase of sword-fighting skills and war strategies. The inner conflict and the clash of philosophies are more interesting than the physical depiction of the war itself.

The premise of "Azumi" is rather compelling because it is about young assassins. They were children used by the Tokugawa shogunate - deployed as assassins in their teenage years - to assassinate feudal lords who were capable of initiating another large-scale conflict. I was curious on their character development and the possible inner conflict that may arise when they face the world. The film did tackle these things, but the result was rather disappointing. Although there were some profound scenes, it did not delve into these things deeper, and generally, the portrayal was rather uneven and touched only the surface. It went more to the typical action movie side, and went further even beyond believability in the combat skills and endurance of its characters. As the film progresses, I'm becoming convinced that I am just watching an action fantasy flick despite its compelling historical references. If you are looking for an action movie and you don't really care about the story that much, then you may find this film thrilling; although you might be disappointed if you are looking for realistic fight scenes. In fact, it's the thrill and mystery together with some intriguing characters that enabled me to finish watching this film.

Incredible.

Thanks to the folks here @ AZN Films, I've had the good fortune of discovering a tremendous handful of standout foreign films ... movies that do not get the kind of play that they could on my side of the ocean but films, nonetheless, that are as powerful, insightful, and complex as any of Hollywood's best.

AZUMI is a tremendous step forward for the folks behind VERSUS. VERSUS is primarily an indie/zombie flick with a great twist ending. Don't get me wrong: I own VERSUS, and I've watched it twice, enjoying it more on the second viewing than I did on the first. But AZUMI is the kind of film that'll earn the talent far more respectability around the world -- as this experience deserves to be discovered by as broad an audience as it can.

The story is classic: a group of warriors head on to fight one final quest to rid their lands of evil ... but, as oft happens in tales of this nature, evil gets the upper hand. In the end, only Azumi -- a petite samurai who lost her faith along the way -- storms the stronghold to save her mentor, facing over 200 enemies in a sword-to-sword battle as much for redemption as it is for survival.

Granted, the film is not without a handful of campy moments, but they are easily dismissed against the backdrop of the warrior's epic struggle to accept the fact that -- regardless of how hard she tries -- she cannot escape her destiny.

AZUMI sports some of the best swordplay I've seen from anything I've purchased at AZN, and that includes the stellar ZATOICHI rebirth at the genius of Takeshi Kitano. Arguably, the only film that springs to mind that surpasses the battle is Jet Li's HERO ... but that film is in another category altogether.

I can't imagine anyone being disappointed with this purchase. It offers a terrific package along with a crisp transfer and a wonderful audio track.

Discover AZUMI, and discover what a contemporary samurai film is all about.

My general impression about this movie was that it was too short, despite being about 140 minutes in length. I continued to think at least an hour after i've seen it.

The plot was good. Although the major point of this movie are the fight scenes, which were spectacular, they aren't leading the movie but are being led by the story. Again, the movie reveals to us the sternness of the Japanese character, one that never looks back and ready to achieve he's goal whatever the cost is. It also shows how small is the "life value" in their world.

The acting is good, the dialogs are all in place ( no scenes where the characters are saying things that are pretty obvious for themselves, and make them look stupid) and most of the characters are great. The Heroine Azumi is great. Beautiful, powerful but also shows her feminine side. She's determined in her mission to kill the warlords and has no second opinion about it. I also like the the teacher's character which i think represents the cold, brute mind ( heart ) of that time when life wasn't worth much. My favorite character is Kanbe'e. Shrewd, skillful samurai, that doesn't afraid to give his life or the life of his soldiers to protect his warlord. A very realistic character.

The character I didn't like is Bijomaru, Assassin with a flower. I think he's the only major flaw in this movie. He seems to be "too insane" and skillful at the same time and doesn't fit. More like a villain in the Chinese Kong Fu movies.

Fight scenes are great, no much to add. The visual effects and the wire work is great also. The score is unbelievable. It fits the movie perfectly and keeps you alert.

There is some resemblance to the Chinese "Hero" with jet Li. The main idea of both of the films is the same: A bunch of assassins tries to kill warlord(s). Although the visual effects in Hero are much better and the fights are impressive also, I still got lost in the movie's dialogs trying to understand the meaning of what was said and sometimes looked for the watch. The Chinese movies ( especially Hero ) concentrates largely on their philosophy, which makes them look a bit awkward, and less on the plot, which seems to stand still. Azumi "compensates" the philosophy time with ongoing plot and a lot of action, also providing us with some feelings for the characters.

If I had to choose between the two, I definitely would choose the Japanese movie.

Overall i enjoyed it much and would recommend it to anyone that likes action and does care for the plot.