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97
4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days
93
WALL-E
86
Flight of the Red Balloon, The
85
Edge of Heaven, The
83
Paranoid Park
80
Encounters at the End of the World
79
Visitor, The
78
Hellboy II: The Golden Army
75
Boy A
74
Mongol
73
Kung Fu Panda
73
Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson
72
Priceless
72
Transsiberian
71
To the Limit
71
Tropic Thunder
70
Standard Operating Procedure
66
When Did You Last See Your Father?
65
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
63
Planet B-Boy
63
Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2, The
63
Kit Kittredge: An American Girl
63
This Christmas
62
Mister Foe
61
Stuck
61
On the Rumba River
61
Incredible Hulk, The
57
Stone Angel, The
57
Journey to the Center of the Earth 3D
55
Sukiyaki Western Django
54
You Don't Mess with the Zohan
54
Get Smart
54
What We Do Is Secret
53
Mister Lonely
52
Milarepa
49
Pirates Who Don't Do Anything: A VeggieTales Movie, The
48
Death Defying Acts
47
Strangers, The
46
Jack Brooks: Monster Slayer
45
Zombie Strippers
44
Henry Poole is Here
39
Young People F**king
37
War, Inc.
35
Star Wars: The Clone Wars
34
Happening, The
33
Elite Squad
32
Perfect Holiday, The
25
Hell Ride
20
Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed
xx
Whaledreamers
xx
Christmas on Mars: A Fantastical Film Freakout Featuring the Flaming Lips
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Kiss the Bride
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Beer for My Horses
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
|
Blind Swordsman: Zatoichi, The
Miramax Films
FILM:
MPAA RATING: R for strong stylized bloody violence
Starring
Takeshi Kitano,
Tadanobu Asano,
Yui Natsukawa,
Michiyo Ookusu,
Gadarukanaru Taka,
Yuuko Daike,
DaigorĂ´ Tachibana,
and
Ittoku Kishibe
Director Takeshi Kitano takes on Japanese cinematic legend Zatoichi. Kitano stars as the blind wanderer with a distinctive red cane and a shock of platinum blonde hair. Softly-spoken, he makes a living as a masseur and by gambling, but his humble, shuffling facade masks a lightning-fast, deadly swordsman. (Miramax)
| GENRE(S): |
Action
|
Drama
|
Foreign
|
| WRITTEN BY: |
Takeshi Kitano
|
| DIRECTED BY: |
Takeshi Kitano
|
| RELEASE DATE: |
DVD: November 9, 2004
Theatrical: July 23, 2004
|
| RUNNING TIME: |
116 minutes, Color |
| ORIGIN: |
Japan |
| LANGUAGE(S): |
Japanese (with English subtitles) |
Best Cinematography, Best Editing, Best Lighting, Besr Score and Best Sound, 2004 Awards of the Japanese Academy; People's Choice Award, 2003 Toronto International Film Festival

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
100
Chicago Tribune
Michael Wilmington
A masterpiece of wry violence and stylized mayhem, The Blind Swordsman: Zatoichi turns loose one of Japan's most brilliant film auteurs, Takeshi Kitano, on one of its most enduring pop legends.

90
Dallas Observer
Gregory Weinkauf
This roaring crowd-pleaser also boasts hilarious bits of business, insightful observations into the human condition, and geysers of kitschy computer-generated blood.

90
Washington Post
Stephen Hunter
The summer's most rousing action picture.

88
Philadelphia Inquirer
Carrie Rickey
A boisterous and improbably entertaining action comedy.

88
Boston Globe
Ty Burr
If there's a larger theme in Zatoichi, it's that nobody is quite who he or she seems.

88
Chicago Sun-Times
Roger Ebert
The kind of film I more and more find myself seeking out, a film that seems alive in the sense that it appears to have free will; if, in the middle of a revenge tragedy, it feels like adding a suite for hoes and percussion, it does.

88
Baltimore Sun
Chris Kaltenbach
It's a top-notch action film, albeit on the bloody side, complete with decisive action, mysterious characters and a nobility and sense of purpose that allows its excesses to be forgiven.

80
Washington Post
Desson Thomson
Kitano the filmmaker makes sure that everything is beautiful, from the wonderful colors and passing tableaux to the intricate fighting choreography. This blind swordsman, you realize, has vision to spare.

80
Los Angeles Times
Manohla Dargis
Kitano uses exaggerated acting, choreo-graphed violence and, most radically, the rhythms of everyday life -- farmers pounding the earth, the syncopated plop of falling rain -- to turn this genre story into a crypto-Kabuki play and one blissfully idiosyncratic diversion.

80
Film Threat
Chris Barsanti
As entertaining and surprising as the film is, however, nothing can prepare one for its rousing final fight scenes.

80
Variety
David Rooney
Over-plotted and at times incoherent but never dull, this is a stylishly designed, highly entertaining bloodbath full of offbeat comedy and inspired musical moments.

80
LA Weekly
Walter Chaw
Although Zatoichi may disappoint some Kitano purists, who might think it a vanity piece or submission to popular taste -- he's even begun moving his camera -- its pyrotechnics are still audacious and breathtaking.

80
The New York Times
Dana Stevens
Like many musicals, The Blind Swordsman works better in individual scenes than as a whole. Mr. Kitano is not the most disciplined storyteller, and the plot meanders along tangents and stumbles into flashbacks, losing momentum for long stretches in the middle.

78
Austin Chronicle
Marrit Ingman
Beneath its layers of epic detail, this Zatôichi is cinematic cotton candy.

75
Miami Herald
Rene Rodriguez
Because Kitano also wrote and directed the movie, Zatoichi also features all kinds of beguiling, if admittedly bizarre, subplots and forays into nonsequitur territory.

75
Portland Oregonian
Marc Mohan
What really separates Zatoichi from a run-of-the-mill action pic is the sense of humor -- and even more than that, the sense of fun -- that Kitano brings to it.

75
Christian Science Monitor
David Sterritt
Stylishly directed and smartly acted, especially by the filmmaker-star, who gives one of his best performances as the unerring swordsman.

75
Rolling Stone
Peter Travers
Kitano is a riveting spectacle. So's the movie.

75
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
Liam Lacey
It feels like one long non-sequitur -- like closing a Charles Bronson film with a disco medley -- but there's an emotional consistency to Kitano's boisterous celebration of movement.

75
New York Post
V.A. Musetto
The tap-dance finale is a gem.

75
Entertainment Weekly
Owen Gleiberman
The movie, quite simply, goes to sleep whenever Zatoichi isn't fighting. When he is, it's a pulp dazzler.

75
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Sean Axmaker
More reinvention than remake, this black-humored, blood-soaked adventure is a colorful if impersonal audience pleaser done up in a showy, fluid style with a tongue-in-cheek flair.

75
San Francisco Chronicle
Carla Meyer
Hyper-violent yet emotionally powerful.

70
The Hollywood Reporter
Michael Rechtshaffen
Mixing all the liberal blood-letting with equal amounts of inspired comedy, Kitano puts a fresh face on the classic material without messing with its heart.

70
The Onion (A.V. Club)
Keith Phipps
Like Ang Lee's "Hulk," it's a fusion of arthouse and multiplex instincts, and though it seems unlikely to satisfy anyone, it's just as unlikely that anyone who sees it will forget it soon.

70
Newsweek
David Ansen
A mix-and-match crowd-pleaser that shouldn't add up, but delightfully does.

70
Village Voice
J. Hoberman
A reasonably good Kurosawa pastiche. But overburdened with convoluted flashbacks and interpolated gags, and generally lacking a dynamic sense of cutting, the movie doesn't possess the master's sardonic brio.

70
Chicago Reader
Jonathan Rosenbaum
Though the filmmaker has by now ridiculed the martial-arts drama virtually out of existence, the final dance number -- actually closer to festive stomping than tapping -- somehow manages to transcend irony, conveying instead only Kitano's childlike exhilaration, with a sense of ease regained.

63
Charlotte Observer
Lawrence Toppman
I never did sort out the gangsters fighting for control of a 19th-century town, nor did I figure out exactly what happened to the main henchman. But I was rarely bored.

63
USA Today
Claudia Puig
This incarnation is funny, quirky and clever, with some mesmerizing action sequences.

60
TV Guide
Maitland McDonagh
A bravura tap-dancing finale as exhilarating as it is bizarre.

50
New York Daily News
Jami Bernard
The best part of Zatoichi is its fine sense of rhythm, culminating in a galvanizing clog-dance finish.

50
Slate
David Edelstein
What saves Zatoichi is that it ends -- for no clear reason -- with a foot-stomping ensemble dance number that is both delightful and unhinging: It sends you home with spasmodic giggles, convinced this Japanese imp has discovered a new path to your unconscious.


The average user rating for this movie is 8.6 (out of 10) based on 16 User Votes
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