Rating of
3/4
"Azumi" by Yojimbo
Yojimbo - wrote on 03/23/12
A samurai sick of war takes in a group of orphans and trains them to be assassins with the sole purpose in life of killing the warlords responsible for the constant bloodshed. Based on a comic book and directed in a very anime style, this film has more in common with a superhero movie than a samurai epic and contains the associated melodrama and lack of moral ambiguity; it's all about the good guys kicking bad guy ass. And very stylishly they do it too. Ryuhei Kitamura stamps his usual slick visuals onto the action and although he cannot resist overcooking them from time to time, the set pieces are very well staged. The fight sequences get ever more impressive as they go, the highlight for me being the scene in which we finally get to see Azumi's master in action. Hardly the height of depth and sophistication, but it's an action-packed comic strip hack and slasher that is perfectly paced for it's highly entertaining two hour length.
