The Blind Swordsman: Zatoichi (2003)
His Sword Made Him a Hero... His Courage Made Him a Legend. This Summer, Justice is Blind.
- Feudal Japan sword-user flick (Zatoichi has numerous entries throughout time).
- The whole "disadvantaged person being a super skilled sword fighter" is always a nice touch - carries the 'you can do anything you put your mind to' vibe.
- Interesting way of playing out background on the main players via intermittent (and mostly seamless) flashbacks.
- Action scenes are fast and furious.
- I'm not sure where it came from, but sudden feudal Bollywood mode at the end is entertaining if not for the total unexpectedness and contrast.
- CG effects - it's pretty noticeable on some of those "blades".
- Story for most the main players is some dark stuff. Story in general can go pretty dark.
- May take some people longer than others to understand what's going on with the sudden flashbacks.
- Subtitles, for people who hate reading.
Opinion
Entertaining flick, although I wouldn't necessarily peg it as better than the other entries in the Zatoichi series/entries. It handles telling stories for multiple characters rather well, and gives you what you want out of that feudal samurai/ronin/sword fighter movie type. The sudden dance number at the end comes out of left field, although it admittedly is a nice little moral booster after the culmination of all the darker story-path segments. Genre fans should enjoy it, people who hate reading should probably avoid it.