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Plot:
Zatoichi is a 19th century blind nomad who makes his living as a gambler and masseur. However, behind this humble facade, he is a master swordsman gifted with a lightning-fast draw and breathtaking pr...( read more 
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Recent Reviews
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MCT:August 29, 2008
Overall I did really enjoy this film. It was visually very stylish, funny, engaging and enjoyable. It has flaws with the structure, the plotting in regards characters and suffers from a lack of real excitement or consistent tension but it is still more than worth seeing.
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MCT:August 21, 2008
Zatoichi is a fictional character featured in one of Japan's longest running series of films and a television series set in the Edo period. The character, a blind masseur and swordmaster, was created by novelist Kan Shimozawa. This originally minor character was developed for the screen by Daiei Studios and actor Shintaro Katsu, who created the screen version. A total of 26 films were made from 1962 to 1974, with the 26th film being released in 1989. From 1972 to 1974, a television series of the same name was made. 112 episodes were aired before the "Zatoichi" tv series was cancelled.
The iconic popularity of the character has been responsible for much that is good in Western cinema and television-- post-1962. The character had direct influences on all Chinese martial arts film directors, inspired a number of Western characters such as Lieutenant Columbo or the "Kung Fu" series, and was remade in America in 1990 (by TriStar Pictures) as "Blind Fury", an action-comedy starring Rutger Hauer in the title role. This was a remake of film number 17 of the series.
More recently, Takeshi Kitano directed and starred in a 2003 Zatoichi movie. Sho Aikawa also starred in a stage version of Zatoichi, directed by Takashi Miike. -
MCT:July 2, 2008
My only complaint about this remake of the classic samurai character is that Mr. Kitano, who both directed and starred, elected to use digital blood instead of makeup effects. The look is cartoony and distracting. Aside from that, it was a fun film...(read more) with solid action, comedy and even a musical number. The occasional montages, seemingly inspired by the various stage versions of Stomp, were superb.
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MCT:June 26, 2008After rewatching this film being aware of more of Japanese culture and the film making style of Beat Takeshi I love it even more! The movie is amazing in it's execution and is entirely true to the classic 70s-80s samurai film era. The tale of zatoichi the blind swordsman is not a character that came from the mind of Takeshi, but he made the character his own. The characters are great and the movie has a perfect ending with a great scene at the end. The swordplay is awesome and the showdown between zatoichi and the famous bodyguard is exactly how it would have been back in ancient Japan. Total badass classic film definitely one of Kitano's best.
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MCT:June 26, 2008ah, fun stuff with the samurai who's blind, but wait, he's not, but wait, he is. love this movie, it's really entertaining with the violence and the musical number at the end just cracks me up. loved it.
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MCT:June 22, 2008
Funny and action packed, this was a really welcomed, though you can't touch Shintaro Katsu's classic, revision.
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MCT:June 15, 2008
If the guy isn't really blind than he does a heck of a role. Zatoichi has become one of my fave swordsmen.
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MCT:April 26, 2008Takeshi Kitano plays a blind nomad, who makes a living trough gambling and massages. But under this discuses is a deadly skilled swords-man. The story is a classic about a man how come and help a troubled town. There has been countless of such movies. But Kitano have created this humours side in It that I like. Kitano himself says that there must be a balance , If there´s just one bloody scene after an other It gets tiresome. But with a balance you can watch the disturbing scenes. The fighting scenes were spectacular and Kitano showed an high skill with the sword.
There´s something with this stories about old men how seems weak and fragile, but are beat down masters that really compels me. -
MCT:April 10, 2008I can't imagine a gambler and masseur who is blind would be very good at what they do. Gotta be able to see the cards and see someone's body don't you?
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MCT:April 9, 2008
The beginning is quite boring and actually almost made me stop watching the movie, but the last 30 minutes or so was worth it. The story is a bit confusing, with lots of clips that was unecessary for the actual story.
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MCT:February 21, 2008
Kitano's take on the popular japanese character of Zatoichi is both fun and interesting. Kitano manages to add his unique ambigous touch to the character while preserving it's roots. I did missed Joe Hisaishi's music on this one, even that the soundtrack is not bad. The CGI blood ocasionally breaks the atmosphere, but eventually becomes part of the film.
Some purists of the original flicks might have not liked this one, this wasn't suppose to be an exact copy of the originals. Kitano and Katsu-shin are two very different performers. So take this as what it is, a different take on a well known character. -
MCT:February 17, 2008
Incredibly beautiful film, manages to be an engrossing action film, a great comedy and a fairly powerful drama at different times. Insanely well cast film, and highly reccomended.
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MCT:February 17, 2008
well, it surely was funny to watch
a blind swordmaster disguising himself as masseur wanders the land and seems to kill a lot of those bad "pay 10, get a dozen" guys
nice sideplot with two geishas (brother and sister in fact), seeking revenge for the death of their family
and the endboss (at least the only one who could hurt the blind master) was not as flat as usually in such movies, he had feelings and reasons for doing what he did ...
there were also some funny moments ... loved it when one of the bad guys draws his sword and cuts an other bad guy next to him :)
on the bad side - the movie was quite predictable, the blind master is untouchable and some of the jockes do not work for me
also all those bad guys die way too quickly ... at least the ronin should have survived a bit longer ...
but, if you like asian sword-movies i think you could like this one -
MCT:February 12, 2008
Haven't seen the original film, but Kitano's remake is beautiful, stylish, and fun. Absolutely loved it.
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MCT:January 31, 2008
As usual, Beat takeshi's movies are particular, full of long silent scenes. He has a particular sense of humour, see it in Japanese if you can. One of my favorite actors!
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MCT:January 30, 2008
No wonder Tarantino copied so many of this film's ideas; it's a lovely film. Takeshi's use of colour and music is great but above all, I love the humour.
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MCT:January 27, 2008
Another favourite with Asano Tadanobu, this film also features Battle Royale's Kitano Takeshi as director and the title character. He is a blind ronin who takes up the case of two mysterious geisha.
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MCT:January 22, 2008Saw this one again, but I'm sorry to say this: Kitano lacks the charisma that Shintaro Katsu has, the charisma that ís Zatoichi. I missed the dry and silly humour, that and the lack of personality makes this a slow and dull movie. The character played by Tadanobu Asano makes up for that what Kitano's Zatoichi lacks: charisma and personality.
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MCT:January 16, 2008Nothing like the original series. This Zato had no personality. Hollywood should ban computerized blood. BLAH.
Otherwise, as far as Japanese artsie samurai films go, it's okay. -
MCT:January 11, 2008I had two problems with this movie: 1) I wanted to see the kids struggle a little more before the brother makes his ass availabe for sale, and 2) The random Stomp dance sequence. What's that all about? I left the theater angry and confused. Boo!
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MCT:January 9, 2008just about every japanese loves Zatoichi. another reason to love this... its directed by Beat Takeshi! i really want to see this.
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Comments
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acua0270posted 244 days ago -
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Has no-one eles seen this awsome film ? if you think kill bill was good,you would like this an all :)
posted 850 days ago
