Black Belt

If you like a decent story line with realistic fight scenes like in Twilight Samurai, The Hidden Blade and Love and Honour you might like this movie as well.

But if you like lots of wire work and long fighting scenes with lots of unrealistic moves then watch your typical mainstream HK movies such as Legend of the Fist, Once Upon a Time in China and Iron Monkey.

Simple.

Just because it's a martial arts films doesn't mean we have to throw them all into one category. They are completely different types of movies. It all depends what you prefer or what you're in the mood of.

Personally, I wish they made more movies like this.

The movie tagline: "Real Fight, Real Karate, Real Japan" just says it all. I waited much to see this on DVD.. The movie lived up to my expectations, which were based on the trailer and the fact that the main "actors" are real karate masters of 1st, 5th and 6th dan.

The story takes place in the 30's, the country is about to go to war. A military troop arrives at a dojo where 3 guys practice karate with an old master and they soon engage in a fight. The soldiers want to take the building but finally they take the karate pupils, after they demonstrated their strength. The old master soon dies and leaves the black belt - representing their dojo - behind so that the most worthy of them can get it. But they have a lot to learn before.. Giryu (Akihito Yagi) is very naive, while Taikan (Tatsuya Naka) is the opposite of him, so they take different routes. The story, the acting, the movie itself could stand on it's own without any fights. The scenery is nice, the drama, the characters are well built, the directing is very simple, yet powerful, honest. The music is also worth mentioning, it was composed by Naoki Sato.

So, what's so special about this movie? That it's real, and it has it all. Great fighters and actors, a meaningful story, a nice movie with a respectful message and representation of karate. The style which - compared to hundreds of movies about flying swordsmen or vengeful kung fu masters - is just not so popular on screen. Maybe that's because it's not about showing off, so it doesn't look that cool at first. Don't expect any wire-work, stuntmen falling ten meters or special effects to exaggerate anything. There is nothing to exaggerate here, because even the simplest, shortest moves look so perfect and powerful that it needs no explanation. This movie makes a lot of things more clear about karate, and gives meaning to it. Reading about the movie on the net I found several karate forums where people praised the actors for being great masters and also nice, humble persons after knowing them. The fact that the movie was also advertised in these circles made it clear that it's not an average action flick. Naka Sensei, who plays Taikan in the movie is an instructor (ranked 6th dan) of the Japan Karate Association and Akihito Yagi (5th dan) is also an instructor and the president of IMGKA (International Meibukan Gojyu-Ryu Karate Association). I hope it wasn't the last movie they appeared in, their charm and talent would be a great addition to Japanese cinema and could further exhibit the true power and meaning of karate traditions.

Black Belt, or in Japanese kuro-obi is a Japanese martial-arts movie directed by Sunichi Nagasaki. Although the director was nominated for the Action Asia Award in Deauville Asian film festival in 2008 as well as for the Grand Prix des Ameriques in Montréal World Film Festival in 2007, he didn't win any of those prices. However the film was a great success in Japan. For me too. Before watching this movie, I wasn't a great fan of martial-arts movies because of the exaggerations and the special effects in this type of movies. But after watching this movie of which you can say everything except that it contains special effects. That gives the movie a natural touch. For example there is no one in the movie who is jumping meters in the air while fighting or making incredible stunts and tricks. I have never seen such a movie. In other words you can't feel any distance between yourself and the acting. This makes it easier to watch the movie. The three principal actors in the movie are Akihito yagi playing the role of Giryu, Tatsuya Noka playing the role of Taika and Juji Suzuki playing the role of Choei. None of the three actors is known in the West. The story is about three Karate students. The three rules are played by the just mentioned actors. They live with their Karate master in a secluded forest where their dojo is (a dojo can refer to a temple or to a simple training place where karate students can ameliorate their skills). The events take place in the year of 1932 when Japan was planning for a great invasion of the islands on the Pacific, so they needed a great army. The three pupils were forced by the army forces to join the army. At that time their master dies before he was able to give his black belt to one of his three students. The receiver of the belt will be the successor of the great master. After burying their master they leave forced by the army their dojo. Everyone of them go on a different path based on what he has learned from the teaching of his master. The coincidence will gather them on a battle. The philosophy of martial-arts has an important role in this movie. You must have some background information concerning martial-arts philosophy to understand this movie. I recommend those who do not understand karate-philosophy and think that karate is no more than fighting to watch the movie

Tracked it down because one blogger named it one of the top MA movies of all time. No, sorry. On the plus side, was great to see real practitioners on screen. (Unlike the zillion dollar hit series Cobra Kai, for eg). But the story did not not work for me. A martial art known worldwide for strikes ... but the student cannot strike? The trope of the wounded fighter getting shelter from the common folk was used successfully in several Jet Li films ... but completely misses the mark here. And the ending was also disappointing. (WARRIOR 2011 heads my list of the best 165+ films ever -- check it out).

This is truly a great film. Original and refreshing in its presentation. Sure, the plot can be easily deduced, but the environment, film direction, pure beauty of clean karate used appropriately makes this movie a real winner.

The picture is beautiful, cinematography excellent. You develop a real connection with the characters as well. The movie is also suspenseful and engaging. The fighting scenes are spectacular. It also captures the historic period of 1930's Japan very well too.

You can even learn something by watching this movie. There are lessons of life to be learned and you can come away feeling very satisfied that your time was well spent.

This is one of those movies where after watching it you say, "Wow."