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Waste of time

Such a frustrating disappointment

Excellent but underrated film

Great movie! If you want to be entertained and have a few good laughs, see this movie. The music is also very good,

This story sees Wang Gang, a one armed Chinese swordsman, travelling through Japan; he is pleased to meet a Chinese family but things take a tragic turn when their young child accidentally blocks an official procession… an offence that means instant death. Wang Gang steps in and saves the boy but that leads to the samurai in the procession massacring most of those present including the boy's parents. Shortly afterwards Zatoichi, the blind swordsman, finds the boy with his dying father and agrees to look after him. Not long after that they meet up with Wang Gang although it is hard for them to communicate as he speaks no Japanese and Zatoichi speaks no Chinese. The three of them eventually take shelter with a local family. While Zatoichi is out the samurai attack and it is assumed that he betrayed them. He does what he can to put things right but unable to talk to each things could easily end in tragedy.This was a solid samurai film with lots of sword fighting but not too much blood. The story is simple but effective; the bad guys are definitely bad and the good guys have an enjoyable degree of ambiguity. Shintarô Katsu and Yu Wang did fine jobs as Zatoichi and Wang Gang respectively; I particularly enjoyed the scenes where they try to converse but only misunderstand each other. Having not seen other instalments in this film series I can't say how this compares but as a stand-alone film it is rather fun; lots of action and some laughs.These comments are based on watching the film in Japanese and Chinese with English subtitles. In the version I saw it was obvious which language was being spoken as the Chinese dialogue has italic subtitles.

The Chinese film, THE ONE ARMED SWORDSMAN, might just be the greatest martial arts film of all-time. It certainly impressed me and I was brilliantly choreographed throughout. In a very, very odd merging of genres, this Shaw Brothers creation from Hong Kong now meets Zatoichi--the star of almost 30 adventure films. While these two characters were similar with their prowess with the sword, who would have thought of taking characters from two places so far apart as Hong Kong and Japan (a distance of about 1800 miles plus a journey across the Sea of Japan)?! And, not surprisingly, Wang Kong (the one-armed swordsman) speaks Chinese throughout the film--with Japanese subtitles on the side. How he and a blind Japanese man will meet and interact sure intrigued me--I'm just surprised that I saved this strange film to be the final Zatoichi film I would watch and review. Talk about a weird plot! The film begins with Wang Kong (also called 'Wang Kang' in the film) meeting a fellow Chinese man and his family in Japan. Both are surprised to see a countryman in this far-off land. In a problem caused by a cultural misunderstanding, when a high Japanese official and his entourage pass, the family didn't know they were supposed to grovel on the ground (Japanese custom for all peasants) as they passed. Instead, when the little boy's kite gets away from him, he runs towards the procession and his mother and father are cut down like dogs--and the one-armed man kills several in the procession before he escapes. A bit later, Ichi happens upon the victims of this assault. There he finds the little boy and he brings him to town. However, the people in the town are looking for the one-armed man--or anyone who is Chinese, so it's up to Ichi to protect the child's identity. Fortunately, the Chinese boy DOES understand Japanese but he made for a really lousy interpreter.Much of the film consists of the baddies trying to capture and kill both the child and the one-armed man to teach everyone a lesson in obedience. Additionally, because of the language barrier and the child being essentially stupid, the good guys kept assuming that Ichi was a traitor and was helping the forces of evil to capture these Chinese people. Only late in the film is the truth known--but still, for some odd reason, there is the requisite battle between Ichi and the one-armed man.Overall, there isn't that much fighting by the one-armed man until late in the film. Additionally, the choreography and skills demonstrated aren't up to the standards of the original one-armed man film. Still, it's a nice diversion and offers a lot of new material in an aging martial arts series. Not great, but very good.By the way, as you watch the ending, note the background music and style--it's pure Spaghetti Western, as is Ichi's playing the whistle like Charles Bronson did in ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST.

Every culture has it's own fictional world that some obsess and linger in. America has James Bond, a film series spanning over 20 films and 6 actors! Japan has Zatoichi! But, the difference is that only one actor is synonymous with Zatoichi, and that's Shintarô Katsu. And even though the series has it's share of clichés (as do all long running movie series) that are even present in this film Zatoichi has a message that resonates through all his films, and that is one of how to treat people. In this Outing he is paired with The One-Armed Swordsman (Jimmy Yu Wang), another famous Asian Swordsman who hails from Shaw Bros. of China.This film which features amazing and thrilling action sequences also has a thoughtful side as frustrating scenes between Zatoichi and The One-Armed Swordsman take place, as neither can understand or interpret each others speech which leads to misunderstandings and eventual tragedy. Zatoichi encounters The One-Armed Swordsman with a child in hand that he has rescued from a band of Samurai. But Zatoichi follows and helps the two until he returns from getting food to only find them gone. They are wanted, and Zatoichi is forced to brutally fight to save the lives of those affected. With this film you do not come away with a fully mesmerized Summer Blockbuster mood, but it makes you go away with a sad and epic feeling that is induced by the films exciting and symbolic ending that proves the depth of this series' theme - "Treat others as you want to be treated"

Many people I otherwise respect believe this is among the best Zatoichi movies: I have yet to see one I didn't like, but somehow this one is just not as pleasing to me as many of the others. (Possibly my DVD is not the very best.) In any case, the behavior of Zatoichi is quite a bit more foolish and bloodthirsty than usual, and the skill level and intelligence of the one armed swordsman (Jimmy Wang Yu) are reduced from that in his own films, so that his fate is perhaps other than what it would be in a film made by and for the Chinese. To my taste, Jimmy Wang Yu's charisma is invisible.All this being said, this is a reasonably good film, and should not disappoint greatly.