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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 |
 "Beware of the Princess Assasin!"The Princess Blade is a decent film, and packs a fair punch into the modern Samurai style film genre. The film centers around a young woman, Yuki, who starts off as an assasin for the House of Takemikazuchi.(a clan of X royal guards turned assasins for money) She turns on her house however, when she discovers that her mother was killed by the House years earlier. Yuki's mother had been a royal figure in a disbanded kingdom, which leaves Yuki as the only remaining aire and the title of Princess. (Thus the reason for the flims name) Yuki soon finds herself hunted by her former comrades, and she must battle them to save herself, as well as get revenge for her mother. At one point Yuki is wounded in one of the skimishes, and is befriended by Takashi, a young man who is in an insurrectional movement to overthrow the goverment that funds the Takemikazuchi. Takashi shares Yuki's peril of having a tragic history, which is revealed during the film. He also has a sister who is in a post tramatic state which causes her to be detached somewhat from reality. Yuki hides out with the two for awhile and begins to discover that she can again find happiness in her life. Eventually however, she is tracked down by the Takemikazuchi, and must fight them in one final showdown. The Princess blade was a good film both in story and in character development. The sword fights are well choregraphed, and the actors performances bring a genuine concern for the characters in the story. Also, there are a lot of similarities to Kill Bill, which was based in part on modern Japanese Smaurai style cinema. The film does have a tragic ending however, and leads me to believe that a sequal was in mind when this film was made.(it may not be the ending the viewer is rooting for) Also, like in many Japanese films, the stroy slows down quite a bit during the middle, which left me begging for a few more sword fights. That being the main reason for a 4 instead of a 5 star rating. The film is not as action packed as Versuses, but it's less gorey, and takes itself much more seriously. The tech aspects include both a Japanese and English dubbed language track,(ADV does a nice job on the dub) trailers of other films and that's about it. Overall I enjoyed THe Princess Blade, and would watch it again. But I doubt it's a movie that I would want to watch frequently. My advice is that renting it will suffice for most people, but hard core fans of Japanese cinema and modern Samurai style films might consider purchasing it. It does have it's moments. "It may not be Kurosawa but it's still great fun!!"When I saw the "Princess Blade" on opening day I was more then excited. Having been a long time fan of samurai films, anime, sci-fi and martial arts films this just seemed almost too good to be true. The story is set in a nameless country in a desolate war torn future that acts somewhat like a bridge between George Orwell''s "1984" and feudal Japan. In this isolated country ruled by a facist government rebels are delt with by one of the last remaining houses of nobles, a clan of assassins, that hold loyalty only to money. The last heir to this house is a young girl whom is soon to turn 20 (the age of adulthood in Japan), at which point she must choose between succeding to head of the house or to leave and disolve the house. When she learns that sensei had her mother and father murdered she tries to flee, only to be hunted by her former friends and household. Wounded and alone she finds refuge with a man whom leads a double life as a terrorist against the government. What ensues is a vibrant display of wild swordplay, dramatic character development, bittersweet romance, tragedy, and the coming to terms with ones' self. In this regaurd the "Princess Blade" nearly hits every mark. My only complaint is with the ending, while poetic I still thought it should have been diffrent. Fine preformances on all parts. And a energetic, if not a tad repetitive, musical score. If you are expecting the same calibure as Akira Kurosawa than this film will only serve to dissipoint you. While this film may not be Kurosawa, it is none the less, a wild and fun ride with some thought provoking moments (especially in our post 9/11 age).  "Don't let anyone tell you this is a good movie..."good reviews of this movie are another example of the kindheartedness of movie goers... after reading the hype surrounding this movie, i did a foolish thing... i bought it sight unseen. another harsh lesson learned. onto the movie: a transparent plot coupled with terrible acting and dialogue, one would think that at least the fight scenes would redeem this film. guess again. crappy SFX, silly posing and posturing stop any hope of the validity of this as a movie worth watching, let alone owning. the introduction of out-of-place random characters, no explanation of even the secondary characters roles and no evident trace of final resolution all add up to this being one movie to avoid even on penny night at the local vid-mart. in the words of the great urban poet Chucky D: don't believe the hype. "Fresh take on martial arts movies"I bought Princess Blade as a blind buy, and overall I really liked it. I think what really made it feel original to me was the way they showed the futuristic setting. There weren't a lot of dumb costumes or cheesy touches to overemphasize the fact that the characters are in "the future". There was one amazing shot of a super high-speed train speeding by the construction of a huge Orwellian statue of some kind of "supreme leader", and there were a couple of radio broadcasts giving us similar hints of a dystopian future setting, but it was all very subtle. Also, I liked the fact that although it was a futuristic setting, most of the fight scenes took place out in the forest. The action choreography (almost completely consisting of swordfights) is quite well done and not as fantastical as a lot of 90's Hong Kong wire-fu movies---there's very little use of wires or undercranking. The story, casting and acting are quite good, although the film suffers somewhat from an obviously limited budget. Also, although there is some blood, the movie is not excessively gory. Unfortunately, the ADV DVD picture quality is not very good for such a recent movie---it's non-anamorphic, and there are some compression artifacts evident. Overall though, I thought the swordfight scenes were very good, the performances and story were touching, and the setting was unique and subtle. A very enjoyable, fresh and stylized take on martial arts movies.  "Royal Mess?"Excellent photography and astounding action pieces aren't enough to lift THE PRINCESS BLADE to the status of royalty. Through the confession of an old friend, Yuki learns that she is a royal princess whose bloodline can restore peace to a future world on the brink of chaos. Since her mother's death, however, Yuki has come to serve a 'society of assassins,' so reclaiming her birthright will not only involve personal sacrifice but an awful lot of bloodshed by the individuals her put in her in present predicament. Fleeing for her life, Yuki is befriended by a young man and his shut-in sister. Together, the three of them discover the meaning of family ... before tragedy once again puts Yuki on a course of self-redemption. Despite some great performances and a mythic storyline, PRINCESS meanders weakly through most of the dramatic passages where Yuki attempts to recapture her lost humanity. However, once the blades are pulled, the film soars to terrific heights. Just don't expect much in-between ... |
