Azumi

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.

I'm completely blown away, easily one of the coolest movies I've seen in a long time. This is the third Kitamura film I have viewed, and out of the three (the others were Heat After Dark and Versus), I can honestly say I believe this to be his best.

Don't get me wrong, I love Versus. It's a great film, but this one trumps it on nearly every level. From the first 10 minutes I was hooked, and it never let up.

This film boasts some of the best action sequences in recent memory, especially if you love samurai films. The movement of characters is unreal, some of the smoothest wirework I've ever seen. It feels very much like a living anime.

Anyway, seek this film out and buy it! Don't rent it, just buy it! You will thank me for it.

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

"Azumi" is about a girl and 9 boys who are raised in the mountains by a master samurai. When they "come of age" their purpose, or mission, is revealed to them: carry out an order by the shogun to assassinate three warlords who would plunge Japan back into war.

I did like this movie, but the big downside for me was that the plot follows the typical ho-hum Action movie format... heroes fight many faceless bad guy minions along the way, occasionally encounter a "key" or really skilled bad guy, and in the end it culminates in the fight with the BIG bad guy. One of the reasons I love Asian cinema is to see things that are a departure from the usual format, so I guess I expected a little more from this movie.

Also, I don't mind graphic violence in films but there was a bit much in this movie (I will describe it as "constant"). I think movie violence is a little like the F-word... sprinkled here and there it can have real meaning and add punctuation or expression... 2 1/2 hours of it constantly, is kind of numbing. For the difference I am talking about, see the American film "Hostel" versus the Japanese "Audition".

As a samurai film it does not really strike a balance between character and plot development, and sword fighting. I am thinking of other films that do this really well like Yamada's "Twilight Samurai" or "The Hidden Blade", the "Zatoichi" film or TV series (not counting the horrid 2003 film!!) or take your pick of Kurasawa's films.

But, taken strictly as an uncomplicated action movie, I think it's entertaining and worth seeing.

I think that this movie is not just about warriors...is about their choices..power to accept that the good sometimes become evil... what is good some peoples it's bad for others...some scenes are so beautiful that they can make you cry... I think I can see this movie a million times for the man in white and the woman in black...to understand which of them is the good one and what is evil one...to understand the power of red color...The Japanese made from this film a paint same as "Hero".. Maybe for the majority of people who experienced this movie it's just an action movie but for me is a very special... See this film because first of all is a very entertaining!