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Surprisingly incoherent and boring

Let's be realistic.

It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

THE TALE OF ZATOICHI is an action drama, which shows, in a striking way, an inner struggle of a blind man. The blind masseur Zatoichi is hired by a yakuza gang-leader, because of the inevitable war with a neighboring gang. Zatoichi has a distinguished reputation as a swordsman. Their rival responds by hiring a ronin of similar repute. Zatoichi is a humble and honest man. These characteristics are not welcome in the criminal circles of society. However, a ronin, who is hired by the opposing gang, has similar characteristics. Though he and Zatoichi know they must fight when the war begins, they develop a kind of friendship...This film has a similar theme as "Sanjuro" and "Yojimbo", but its creation and characterization are different. This is a samurai story, in which the main protagonist is not a samurai. This change has brought a melodramatic refreshment.Shintaro Katsu as Zatoichi is a surreal and peaceful character. The man, who is trying to find his inner peace and meaning is in a contrast to his surrounding. His blindness is actually an advantage, based on which he will show his skills. He changes his mood, when a melodramatic story gets its brutal and bloody endgame. He becomes a lone wolf who does not want to socialize with ordinary dogs.Shigeru Amachi as Miki Hirate is a good support as a drunk and sick ronin. His life is hanging between his honor and a sword of his rival. Masayo Banri as Otane is a beautiful girl who fell in love with the character of a blind man. A melancholic end, in which the blind swordsman runs away from his species is very touching.

Zatoichi is a blind masseur swordsman-yakuza created by novelist Kan Shimozawa, whose written works spawned a film series of 20+ films and few reboots, as well as a TV series. Played by Shintaro Katsu (from Lone Wolf and Cub and Tenchu!), the principal character Ichi ("zato" is a title, signifying a lower-ranking blind man) holds the entire chanbara series on his back. This particular movie was directed by cult chanbara director Kenji Misumi.The Tale of Zatoichi, although propagated as an action hack-and-slash film, is more of a meditative, talky character-driven jidaigeki gangster drama which reveals a bit of Ichi's past and deals with his sense of justice and hatred of the ruthless gangster underworld to which he belongs himself. He befriends a sick swordsman from the neighboring yakuza clan, but as the tensions between the two clans mount he's forced to fight his friend. There's also a subplot about this asshole who discarded his pregnant lover, leading to her suicide. This guy also has a sister who falls in love with Ichi, but their romance doesn't last long because of his unsteady lifestyle.This movie is pretty entertaining and has an easy enough plot to follow. The characters are well-written and there's no unnecessary scenes; short, sweet and to the point. It also sports an interesting soundtrack in which traditional music and orchestral pieces collide.Two things I disliked about it are the dim lighting which makes it hard to distinguish what's going on in several scenes, and uninspired action scenes which pop up at the end. It's just random gangsters going all-out on each other, each time obviously missing each other with their katanas.The first two films in the series are B&W, so we'll see how the second movie compares. The highlight so far is Ichi cutting a thrown candle vertically in two equal pieces, without extinguishing it.

Just discovered this film series and have now viewed the first three. Outstanding entertainment!The story of a blind, meek master swordsman "Zatoichi" is very well done, just a notch below Seven Samurai in excellence. The lead actor who plays "Ichi" in almost all the films, Shintaro Katsu, later wrote and directed some entries.The plots are interesting and characters well-drawn. Anyone who enjoyed the Samurai films of Akira Kurosawa with Toshiro Mifune should enjoy this film and its sequels. "Ichi" is similar to the Mifune characters in his deliberately unprepossessing appearance and aversion to violence, but when he is pushed too far, watch out! Also, despite his blindness and poverty, he is something of a chick-magnet for some very attractive Japanese women.You can find considerably more detail on Shintaro Katsu and these films on Wikipedia.

A tale of warring townships and two strong characters who cant help but being pawns in a horrible game of carnage. Set in rural Japan in feudal times the setting is beautiful.Too bad the camera works don't quite follow up. The scope is 70mm (or close to it), but I could settle with less if the cameraman (I suspect they didn't have one) didn't cut off the heads all the time. The use of zoom-lens sometimes works and sometimes don't. One time zooming in on Tane-san for instance was very dramatic. Intense was also the battle scenes. Very good.Zatoichi is a good character and the actor playing him is fitting. The story is good and makes for an intriguing film despite some flaws. In all respects I think its inferior to Sanjuro though.This is my first Zatoichi and I will check out other entries in the series for sure (at least the Kitano "Zatoichi" from 2003 is easy to get hold on).