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The Princess Blade Actors: Hideaki Ito, Yumiko Shaku, Yoichi Numata Director: Shinsuke Sato Number of Items: 1 Format: Color, Widescreen, Dolby Audience Rating: R (Restricted) Running Time: 95 minutes Studio: A.D. Vision Product Group: DVD Release Date: 2003-11-18 Buy from Amazon |
 "Visceral Poetry"OK- this film is for all the Japanese swordplay buffs who also read Japanese manga. At times you'll catch yourself thinking, "What the hell is going on?" as the plot moves really fast in the beginning; but there's enough visceral action spread throughout to keep you interested. It's the story of a girl named Yuki who is the head of an assasination family called the House of Takemikazuchi.Without giving too much of the story away,she must run away from the only life she's known and is constantly hunted down by other members of her "family". She finds temporary refuge with a young insurrectionist named Takashi. The movie was inspired by a comic from Kazuo Koike and Kazuo Kamimura. Kazuo Koike is the spectacular writer of both the "Crying Freeman" and "Lone Wolf and Cub" comic series. If you like "Crying Freeman" you'll be right at home here. The characters and plot are very well done but the real star of the movie is the sword fights!! At one point in your life you reach an age where you lose your sense of "danger" in action flicks. Some guy could be defusing an atom bomb and you would be bored to death...well i was pleasantly surprised to find out that every clang! clang! clang! of katanas striking each other seemed both immediate and dripping with an intense poetry that make most action flicks seem so "sterile" today. You really do sense how dangerous it is to fight with samurai swords and that one accomplishment alone warranted five stars.  "This movie was a major let down "Acouple years ago there was a Asian Film Festival in Philadelphia. One of the films playing at that festival was Princess Blade. However I missed the screening and was very upset. When I was finally able to purchase the DVD release of the film I was very excited. However after viewing the film I was very disapointed. The main problem I had was that the heroine is not a believeable asassin, during the action it seems like she can barely hold onto the sword. The film is not very well acted and this does take away from character development. There are a few fights in the film that were somewhat entertaining. That is why I gave the film 2 stars, overall I did not enjoy the movie at all. "Surprisingly great."I wasn't expecting much from this movie, it was just a casual rental, but I liked it enought I ended up buying it. First of all, it's just a visually stunning movie. The lighting, the sets, the haunting, futuristic feel to the whole thing, was just plain beautiful to watch. So, just looking at this movie was a nice enough experience - but that's not all that it has to offer. The characters and their internal struggles, the love story and the questions it raised for them is what adds some depth to what could've been just a typical comic book-ish action flick. The main character, Yuki, doesn't seem to question her place or purpose in life. Trained as an assasin, she seems dedicated with a certain acceptance to her life as a ruthless killer. There are questions concerning her mother's death, though, that shake her certain place in her world. And when circumstances bring her to meet Takashi living in a conflicted world of his own, she is confronted with his idealism, and forced to look at what her whole existence is dedicated to. The relationship between the two main characters is interesting. They both seem haunted and alone, dealing with questions concerning their involvement in their causes. Questions of the morality of killing for a cause, how far to go for something you believe in seems the issue facing Takashi. While Yuki is forced to look at her violence through Takashi's idealistic eyes, he's forced to look at his own participation in violence when he's confronted by the violent Yuki showing up in his life. There are a few times when Princess Blade touches the edges of being a comic-book type of deal (the title comes to mind) there are steroetypical and childish moments, but more often than not, it has more depth than that. If you watch it for the visuals, the characters and plot, you'll have a good time, but I should mention the action scenes are aslo fun. They're maybe a little shaky at times, but still great in places, the swordplay can be fast and aggressive, so they are decent if you love the action. I would love to see a sequal to this movie and I wouldn't be surprised if this one became a cult classic. Definitely worth a look.  "Amazon's Princess Blade is a cut above"(Sorry for the pun...I couldn't help myself.) This review is more to describe the quality of this DVD from Amazon.com, than it is of the film content--although, I think some reviewers here have been way too harsh on this film (great bushido action and SFX, good story). I purchased "The Princess Blade" on ebay and saved a few bucks. What I got was a DVD with no menus in English and absoulutely HORRENDOUS sub-titles. It's like they chose to translate every 10th Japanese sentence and even then, only into English sentence fragments. Despite this, I liked the film enough to order it from Amazon.com. The new copy (from Amazon) has menus in English, an English soundtrack and subtitles so good you can follow the story and even follow nuances of the story. The lesson I learned is that not all DVD distributions are created equal.  "Decent"This film had some very creative action scenes with spare use of SFX. It would have been MUCH more enjoyable with a more capable female lead. I was QUITE annoyed by her constant grunting and being out of breath FOR NO REASON. She needs to take some notes from Sandra Hess, Brigitte Lin, or Maggie Cheung. SOMEbody. The only other negative was the percussion obsessed music over the combat scenes. I give it three stars for the futuristic feel, tragic love story, and very creative samarai styled action sequences toward the movie's beginning. The lead character is definitely a trooper though and very likeable for her persistence and resilience. I would have given it four if the lead actress was more convincing. I love chicks that kick butt--and she does that part but she sounds like she's about to die all throught he movie and it was just really frickin' annoying. |
