Azumi (2003)

47% of critics liked it
(32 reviews)
81% of users liked it
(16,301 ratings)

Orphaned as a little girl, Azumi (Aya Ueto) is raised in the forest with a group of ten children by their master (Yoshio Harada), who trains them to be peerless assassins. Azumi and Nachi (Shun Oguri) are the strongest of the fighters. When the group comes of age, the master gives them one final… More Orphaned as a little girl, Azumi (Aya Ueto) is raised in the forest with a group of ten children by their master (Yoshio Harada), who trains them to be peerless assassins. Azumi and Nachi (Shun Oguri) are the strongest of the fighters. When the group comes of age, the master gives them one final test. He tells them to team up with the person to whom they feel closest. Then he tells them to kill that person, explaining that an assassin never gets to choose whom to kill. The teens reluctantly fight to the death. Then the survivors are brought out of the woods to begin their work, assassinating the corrupt warlords who are preventing peace in the land. The assassins, particularly Azumi, perform their missions with flair, but complications arise. One of the teens (Takatoshi Kaneko) is poisoned by a ninja's blade, one (Kenji Kohashi) falls in love with a circus performer (Aya Okamoto), and Azumi begins to question her desire to live the violent life of an assassin. Meanwhile, one warlord (Naoto Takenaka) cleverly escapes their blades, and together with his bodyguard Kenbei (Kazuki Kitamura) and a "monkey-faced" ninja, Saru (Minoru Matsumoto), they find Bijomaru (Jô Odagiri from Bright Future), a violent madman, release him from prison, and unleash him upon the young team of assassins. Azumi, based on the manga by Yu Koyama, is the first of cult director Ryuhei Kitamura's (Versus) films to be made within the Japanese studio system. It was shown at the 2004 New York Asian Film Festival, presented by Subway Cinema. ~ Josh Ralske, Rovi

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Rating, Runtime: Unrated, 1 hr. 55 min.
Directed By: Ryuhei Kitamura
Genres: Drama, Action & Adventure, Art House & International, Classics

In Theaters: May 10, 2003 Wide
On DVD: Jan 1, 1998
Studio: AsiaVision

Critic Reviews

Andrea Gronvall, Chicago Reader
The tone is bleak and the comic-book violence relentless, but the wirework and Yuta Morokaji's stunt choreography are impressive.
Michael Wilmington, Chicago Tribune
It's a zippy time-passer.
G. Allen Johnson, San Francisco Chronicle
Ryuhei Kitamura is 37, but he makes films like a 15-year-old fanboy. That is, he has no sense of story, his visual style is basically point-and-shoot, the boys are cool and rebellious and the girls are cute.
Mark Olsen, Los Angeles Times
An uneven effort overall that when it is working has a strange, engaging energy that is often overturned by an uncertain staidness.
Frank Scheck, Hollywood Reporter
Though it contains some superbly staged and highly lavish action sequences...[the film] lacks the tautness of its heroine.
John Anderson, Newsday
Overdone and overlong, but its lunatic flavor -- check out Joe Odagiri's Tiny Tim as ninja sadist -- saves the day.
, Film4
An extraordinary film.
Felix Vasquez Jr., Cinema Crazed
Kitamura's visual power thankfully never drowns out the story's.
Urban Cinefile Critics, Urban Cinefile
Well, this particular fantasy surely lost its novelty value a while back, and frankly never did much for me anyhow.
Felix Vasquez Jr., Cinema Crazed
Quite possibly one of the most visually amazing samurai epics I've ever seen...
Brian Gibson, Vue Weekly (Edmonton, Canada)
What will slay you first--the often histrionic acting or the drag-out boredom of that hulking, two-hour-plus thing in the distance that faintly resembles a plot?
Michael Dequina, TheMovieReport.com
The raw visceral pleasures are enough to carry the film past some clunky melodrama that bloats the film to a two-hour-plus run time.
David Noh, Film Journal International
Nothing can lift the glaze from your eyes through the endlessly recurring hokey fight scenes of the movie's interminable 128-minute running time.
Cherryl Dawson and Leigh Ann Palone, TheMovieChicks.com
Azumi may be an outstanding assassin, but the makers of this movie killed any chances of her being the next great action hero.
Wade Major, Boxoffice Magazine
Ueto -- who was only a teenager when the film was made -- is no great actress, but her impressive agility and magnetic presence provide director Ryuhei Kitamura a perfect centerpiece around which to orchestrate his blistering ballet of blood.
Jeffrey M. Anderson, Combustible Celluloid
Azumi is slick, violently beautiful and appeals directly to the lower sensations. But just because it thrills doesn't necessarily mean it's artless.
George Wu, culturevulture.net
It's a B-movie through and through and its indulgences come from loving the genre too much, not bracketing it with postmodern quotation marks.
James C. Taylor, L.A. Weekly
Failing in its attempts at Zhang Yimou-like poetry, Azumi calls to mind a long, blood-splattered director's cut of a Power Rangers episode.
Andy Klein, Los Angeles CityBeat
...teen idol Ueto...is not believable as a warrior for even a second.
Eric Lurio, Greenwich Village Gazette
This is fun because it's soo damn stupid.

Read all 20 critic reviews

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Featured Audience Ratings

xGary X

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… More
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.
Phil H

Based on a popular manga series centring around a young girl who is raised by assassins and eventually set on a mission to kill off some warlords who threaten the peace of Japan. More samurai than you can shake a stick at hehe yes we've seen this kind of thing before but for… More
Based on a popular manga series centring around a young girl who is raised by assassins and eventually set on a mission to kill off some warlords who threaten the peace of Japan. More samurai than you can shake a stick at hehe yes we've seen this kind of thing before but for some reason that doesn't matter, there is nothing better than seeing a well made Japanese film about their past, yes this has allot of artistic license and is more fantasy based but its still damn fun. A curious set of characters all led by their strict master and all played well by the cast, Aya Ueto as 'Azumi' is ultra cute, not the most authentic looking samurai but this is manga adaptation, the rest of the cast are unknown to me but do the job well, nothing too special or original but its entertaining. The deadly character of 'Bijomaru Mogami' is fun, an egotistical lethal merc who kills pretty much anyone for fun and is dressed all in flowing white, think along the lines of 'Vega' from SFII. Action is fast fluid and bloody when it kicks in as you might expect but its not over done, there is the odd moment of high flying wire work which spoils it in my view, they love that in Japan for some reason. The plot is simple and easily followed, the film looks great in terms of costumes, weapons and location and it comes across perfectly as an adaptation.
Lewis C

"No matter how much I try to escape...I can't avoid it. I have no choice...I am forced to kill." Azumi is a pretty standard Asian action flick with a little drama mixed in. It's a better watch than most, though, because of several pretty emotional twists and turns… More
"No matter how much I try to escape...I can't avoid it. I have no choice...I am forced to kill." Azumi is a pretty standard Asian action flick with a little drama mixed in. It's a better watch than most, though, because of several pretty emotional twists and turns that the story takes. You come to care about several of the main characters, and the things that happen to them are handled in a way that makes them have an impact, without killing the momentum of what's an action movie at its heart. I can't comment on how carefully the plot sticks to that of the manga, as I haven't read it. Azumi is an orphaned girl raised with 9 other orphans by a master swordsman. He plans to one day unleash them as assassins to kill the various warlords that are responsible for the devastating, re-occurring wars throughout Japan. As the designated day for the plan grows closer, Azumi and her companions face one final, brutal test, and then go out into a world that is far more complicated than the secluded environment they were raised in. The fanciful and stylized fight choreography isn't the best that I've seen, but it more than suffices. There are times that the warriors standing around in the battle scenes waiting their "turn" are hard to ignore, but that's a pretty minor complaint. There are some pretty cool and memorable moments, as well. The battles are frequent and entertaining, and the levels of bloody carnage are noticeable, without being overly gratuitous. There isn't any definite thing I can point to as the main reason why I liked Azumi so much. It's true that it's another of countless similar sword-fighting movies set in ancient Japan, but it's well-made and enjoyable. If you'd like a satisfying action flick with a very pretty girl as the lead and a few genuinely sad moments, this is a good movie to try.
Justin Y

Azumi. Ryuhei Kitamura is in the director's chair. The beautiful Aya Ueto is a samurai assassin. So this should be one fantastic movie right? For the most part, yes.There is enough going on in the story to fill the entire 2 hour 15 minute run time,… More
Azumi. Ryuhei Kitamura is in the director's chair. The beautiful Aya Ueto is a samurai assassin. So this should be one fantastic movie right? For the most part, yes.There is enough going on in the story to fill the entire 2 hour 15 minute run time, although there is room to shorten this picture as it does drag a little. The final 10 minutes are also a bit of a mess. There are bits and pieces of wacky humor and characters to take away from the realism, especially with the villains, but overall there is still a serious tone to the film.There is an abundant amount of action and while most of it is run of the mill samurai swordplay, there is some style to it, along with buckets of blood. The choreography is enjoyable and Kitamura throws in some of his distinctive camera work and effects.Aya Ueto successfully pulls off a samurai assassin. This is a huge plus. Jo Odagiri is also something as the Bijomaru character.As a whole, Azumi does amuse. Take it for what it is worth and enjoy.
EightThirty .

...U HAVE 2 WATCH THIS... (^_^)
Cassandra M

Since Kill Bill 1 I never saw such a wonderful sword choreography. But it wasn't just for the honour, the pride and the respect that I feel for the Asian samurai culture that I liked this movie, it was the plot. A very interesting plot that really caught my attention. The movie… More
Since Kill Bill 1 I never saw such a wonderful sword choreography. But it wasn't just for the honour, the pride and the respect that I feel for the Asian samurai culture that I liked this movie, it was the plot. A very interesting plot that really caught my attention. The movie tells us the story of a young girl called Azumi. While still a little girl, Azumi's mom died in an accident, so together with 9 other kids, she was adopted and raised by a retired samurai. The 10 children were raised as samurais, learning all the secrets of mastering a sword so they could complete a secret mission that their "father" never wanted to tell them. But now, the 10 kids have become teenagers, its time to reveal the mission: Destroy all the powerful feudal people that could create gigantic wars, just to obtain a little power. So thats when Azumi and the guys found out: They were NOT being raised as samurais, they were being raised as murderers. Will they do the mission? Are they ready for the mission? They'll have to past a test, a horrifying test to see which of them are ready and which of them are not. If they pass the test, they have two targets to kill. The first one will be a piece of cake, the second one won't be that easy... "Azumi" movie is based on a manga by the same name. I never had the chance to read the manga, but I really recommend this movie. A movie where murderers are not cold-hearted serial killers. They are just teenagers, feeling guilty by every step they take and by every person they kill. Just normal teens trying to accept (and avoid) their destinies.
jd c

Azumi and Versus is why I'm so excited to see The Midnight Meat Train. This director, Ryuhei Kitamura, has a niche for creating some kick ass style in all his movies. Azumi is loaded with tons of cool, well choreographed action. Lots of interesting(and funny) characters. Plenty… More
Azumi and Versus is why I'm so excited to see The Midnight Meat Train. This director, Ryuhei Kitamura, has a niche for creating some kick ass style in all his movies. Azumi is loaded with tons of cool, well choreographed action. Lots of interesting(and funny) characters. Plenty of drama, lots of humor, and much stylized violence with blood spraying all over the place. This movie is great. And the final battle scene, I must say, is unbelievably breathtaking. It literally sent chills down my spine. This girl kicked some major fu**ing ass! Azumi was originally given an NC-17 rating, and although it is pretty violent, I believe the NC-17 rating was given for a rape scene that was later cut out. The blood here does flow, but it's not like it's in your face every 5 seconds. I also believe that The Midnight Meat Train is Ryuhei Kitamura's first American made movie. I just hope it's as good as some other pervious horror reviewers make it out to be. I hear The Midnight Meat Train is suppose to be insanely crazy and twisted. Can't wait to see it! Anyways, I highly recommend Azumi! Get your hands on this movie as soon as you could. <img src="http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/mm89/JDHallowEEn/Azumi.jpg">
A.D. V

Considering this came from Ryuhai Kitamura, director of Versus, I was quite disappointed by the lack of gore and style. It has a few sporadic moments of both (loved the revolving camera gag) but this Shogun-style action film is pretty routine.
Tsubaki S

Still a mixed bag from Kitamura, some nice fights here and there but anime cliches 101 prevent the already flat story, or the characters, to get interesting. Not even Aya Ueto's cuteness save this from being a merely week-end filler, not a cult jewel by any chance.
danny d

this movie is hard to describe. its like xena and hercules meets elektra meets shogun assassin meets pirates of the caribean with the soundtrack from top gun. in the spirit of samurai films this is a terrible movie, but if you ignore the samurai element and just look at this as an… More
this movie is hard to describe. its like xena and hercules meets elektra meets shogun assassin meets pirates of the caribean with the soundtrack from top gun. in the spirit of samurai films this is a terrible movie, but if you ignore the samurai element and just look at this as an action flick its entertaining. the end got a little silly but it intrigued me enough to want to watch the sequel. some of the fighting was over the top but other fighting scenes were very good. there were a ton of wholes in this film but its watcheable on many levels.
Jason S

This is a pretty good action flick about a group of people hacking each other up with swords. I got to like the characters enough that I want to see what happens to them in the second movie.
Steve K

Like a live action anime. Good fun, though a bit overlong.
Dean M

Fantastic Japanese movie with fight scenes between a beautiful assassin and a hundred swordfighters.
Matthew Y

Hyper violence, crazy camera angles, awesome sets and choreography elevate this otherwise hollow adaptation of a popular Manga series. A solid opening and a few colorful side characters keep us entertained but really the film is just one glorious action sequence after another. I… More
Hyper violence, crazy camera angles, awesome sets and choreography elevate this otherwise hollow adaptation of a popular Manga series. A solid opening and a few colorful side characters keep us entertained but really the film is just one glorious action sequence after another. I have a feeling anyone who's ever attended a comic-book convention will have an immediate dirty crush on the little mini-skirt death machine heroine Azumi. Anyone who enjoys style over substance will love this violent flick. For everybody else there's little this film can offer beyond it's technical achievements, although they are very impressive.
Lesley N

It's always good to have a girl as the lead in one of these swordfighting Shogun epics. And the set-up's good too, starting with ten orphans, reared to kill, duelling to decide which five survivors will fulfil their mission to end all war. The bad part was the bleak and… More
It's always good to have a girl as the lead in one of these swordfighting Shogun epics. And the set-up's good too, starting with ten orphans, reared to kill, duelling to decide which five survivors will fulfil their mission to end all war. The bad part was the bleak and relentless killing. After an hour or so and hundreds of deaths later, one of the side characters urges Azumi to put down her sword, "I don't want to see any more killing". Couldn't agree more.
William G

Solid swordplay, but just not very fun until the very end.
Bill C

Starting out with a multilayered story and very unique concepts this movie seems very promising. The middle third is very slow but the ending really disappoints. What characteristics does it take to bring to pass great social change? Gessai an aged Samurai faced with unending… More
Starting out with a multilayered story and very unique concepts this movie seems very promising. The middle third is very slow but the ending really disappoints. What characteristics does it take to bring to pass great social change? Gessai an aged Samurai faced with unending bloodshed and the death of his son create a group of assassins trained from infancy to unify power in Feudal Japan and end the inter clan wars. Blindly seeing his only path to success is selecting out any heart or compassion Gessai asks the 10 assassins to pair up with their best friends as partners once the children pick there best friend he orders them to fight their best friends to the death. The beautiful Azumi is the fastest and Handsome and strong Nachi pair up and Nachi sacrifices himself so Azumi could live. The group of assassins is wittled away and eventually Gessai expels Azumi for her compassion. The middle introduces a lot of characters some are just boring two are humerous, but the ending just follows the formula.
Marcus W

Simple in idea, wonderful in execution. The only reason it lacks an extra star is for failing to take itself seriously in places. With a smidgeon more integrity and confidence this film would have been awesome. As it is, it's merely very very good.
Anthony V

Good script, good action and direction.
Patrick D

Really great violent movie. The first half of the film plays out kinda slow and serious and then the last half plays out like and all out crazy death fest. If you like these kind of movies, and I really really do, you should definetly see this sucker without delay