Zatoichi: The Blind Swordsman
Joe Nguyen, staff writer
July 27, 2004

Zatoichi follows the story of a wandering blind swordsman as he looks to set things right in a small village. Every since the early sixties, Zatoichi has been entertaining Japanese fans with its captivating stories, humor and intense action. Writer, director and star Beat Takeshi takes this latest installment of the legendary fighter to a new level that will certainly captivate audiences in the states.

At first glance, the story of Zatoichi looks to be very generic: A powerful warrior comes into town and cleans it up from the scum who are in charge. Sounds like just about every western that’s been on screen. What makes it different is that there are actually many stories that are intertwined and at times, Zatoichi takes a backseat and becomes a secondary character. The other characters are complex and each is interesting in their own way.

Tadanobu Asano as Hattori in "Zatoichi"

Although it’s an action movie, the humor is strong throughout. One scene has Zatoichi playing cho ka han ka, a Japanese dice game that roughly translates to “odds or evens.” Despite the fact that he’s blind, he still wins every turn while the man sitting next to him keeps losing. Another scene has one of the characters cross-dress because he feels that he would look pretty as a woman.

The fighting is intense as apparent in the first five minutes when Zatoichi kills three men who try to pick a fight with him. The deaths were incredibly bloody, but it definitely looked fake because Takeshi wanted to “soften the shock to the audience” from the incredibly high body count. He wanted the blood to “look like flowers blossoming across the screen.”

This is a fun movie to go see. If you’re a fan of samurais or even just an action fan, you’ll enjoy it. It’s not often that you see a big giant dance sequence at the end of an action movie.

Joe gives "Zatoichi: The Blind Swordsman":

Joe Nguyen is a staff writer for asiaXpress.com. You can reach Joe at joe@asiaxpress.com.

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