The Princess Blade

If you are the sort that some action is enough to satisfy you this will be a seven for you. The lead female is very beautiful and athletic however the storyline is bordering on retarded. I would recommend watching this movie just to see the girl swordfight because she's really quite spectacular. However the story is pathetic and the movie can't quite get off the ground because of it. There are some crude heavy handed attempts at character development but they are awkward and sophomoric. The fight scenes are fun but it's obvious the camera tricks were used to cover up the lack of skill of some of the fighters. Yumiko Shaku is a rare gem of a human being, it's a pity her skills and beauty were wasted on this skimpy retarded plot.

This film piles on the visual style and avoids in-depth character development. Now, some may think that this is bad, and can result in a terrible movie. Well, it doesn't. It produces the closet thing I've seen to a filmed comic book, quite literally. Okay, Batman and Spiderman are fantastic film versions of comics, but this is like watching a comic book onscreen, with live action. With some excellent stunts, more human based than those of Crouching Tiger or Matrix, filmed in such a fantastic way, you can't help but be excited by them. The story, however, is a bit weak, and wouldn't warrant another viewing for some time, albeit leaping to the excellent fight scenes and death scenes. However, there is the most realistic death scene I have ever seen before, and also the most emotionally real anguish from an actor I have seen to date. If you are a fan of visually strong movies, with some good fighting action (the assassins use samurai swords, even against guns!) then this is a cracker for you.

PRINCESS BLADE is a good try, with some good works by the female lead, who is actually quite impressive, perhaps more so because of her size. And yet, the movie isn't overwhelmingly good, with some very spotty sections and a lengthy background story concerning the main male character that manages to bore. Excise the male's story and concentrate just on the fugitive female lead, and PRINCESS BLADE would have seem more focus for it.

As it stands, the film offers a number of exciting sword action, and its anachronistic vibe is nicely done. Although for some reason the filmmakers through in a number of CGI scenes that shows a futuristic landscape.

6 out of 10

(go to www.nixflix.com for a more detailed review of this movie and reviews of other foreign films)

once we accept that the world we're looking at is in an alternative universe that developed along the same lines as our own, the fantasy element of this film is a little easier to bear.

unfortunately, even allowing that, the plotting is just way too heavy-handed and convoluted to be very much fun.

there are a lot of action scenes in this film - choreographed by the great Donnie yen - and for the most part they are well-done and very violent, which suits me fine; but they do have one big problem - Shaku Yumiko as Yuki - she doesn't know how to fight.

being a long sword best used held with both hands, the katana, or samurai sword, requires the body's complete and focused energy. in some styles, you swing it from the hips, in others from the back-bone; but if you have to swing it from the shoulder, you better have strong legs, because that's where the energy is really going to come from. if you swing from the shoulder alone, with no chi flowing from other parts of the body, you might as well be swinging a broom - definitely not the single lethal stroke the katana is designed to accomplish.

well, but that's what she does - she swings her katana from the shoulders. no wonder she gets banged around so much in this movie.

this can't be yen's fault, he's too well versed in traditional fighting techniques; and the other performers do fines. i think we're just stuck here with a young actress who lacks confidence. to some extent, that wouldn't even be her fault. no, it's the casting director, the producer, and the director who must take the blame for this one.

from the synopsis, i was expecting much more; instead, i got much less.

by the way, she doesn't act all that convincingly either.

Yet another offering from Japanese cinema in which we are treated to briefly exhilarating action sequences punctuating a vague and convoluted plot. Yet even the action never quite delivers. It opens with an impressive assassination, combining clever camera-work with well choreographed well edited moves. Unfortunately, with the exception of a couple of beautiful individual shots, it is a steady decline in quality from this point. The fights become briefer, duller and increasingly difficult to work out what exactly is going on. The plot is generic and the characters utterly two dimensional, while the subplot of the rebel organisation is half hearted. If you want a mindlessly fun, violent flick with big swords, bigger guns, gallons of blood and an absurd plot, rent 'Versus.'