Description: Raised by assassins, Yuki is the last of the Takemikazuchi royal bloodline. A deadly weapon in her own right, she learns the gruesome truth about the death of her beloved mother. Turning her back on the assassins that betrayed her, she joins forces with a mysterious rebel leader and discovers compassion; still, she is driven only by revenge.
3 ½ Stars: This modern JIDAI GEKI combines Samurai themes with a futuristic FEUDAL Japan... THE PRINCESS BLADE (a.k.a. Shirayuki Hime) is based on the manga by Kazou Koike with the same name. The film is not a remake of the Japanese classic; "Lady Snowblood" (Lady Snowblood greatly influenced Tarantino's Kill Bill) but rather a tribute film to that classic. The film is a post-apocalyptic vision of the future; however, it does successfully preserve the essence and motif of Japanese samurai films. Director Shinsuke Sato's vision on the manga is very interesting as his execution deals with typical samurai films in a futuristic vision of an industrialized Japan.
The House of Takemikazuchi is a clan of assassins. Due to modernization and the majority of people with undesirable lives, these once noble warriors are now assassins for hire who will kill anyone for the right price. There is no way one may relinquish ties to the clan. Yuki (Yumiko Shaku, SKY HIGH), an orphan who was raised by the clan is among the best killers among them. Unbeknownst to her, she is the true heir to the Takemikazuchi bloodline. One day, she was told by a stranger that her mother; Princess Azora was killed by Byakurai, the current clan leader. She tries to kill him but fails. Forced to flee, and to fight for her survival against her brethren; Yuki comes across Takashi, a young activist leader and finds comfort in his company. Meanwhile, her past threatens to catch up to her as Byakurai plots to hunt her and down and kill her.
At first impression, one may think that "Princess Blade" is a Jidai Geki swordplay spectacle but in truth, this film is a bit slower paced than most Japanese action flicks such as Versus. There is a hint of existentialism in its plot; this film carries more of the "samurai" essence in past films and focuses more in its humanity. "Hime" does give a hint of the samurai philosophy and characteristics; such as nobility, loyalty, allegiance and honor. When watching "Hime", please consider a modern feudal Japan with characters seeking isolation. Samurai usually are willing to die for his beliefs/ideals with honor as the road to glory, Yuki, upon her discovery of the truth and her betrayal finds something more worthwhile to live for; she discovers something more to her life than her past killing ways. Her meeting with Takashi (Hideaki Ito) after an attack, allows Yuki to appreciate a peaceful existence as they discover each other's lives. Takashi serves as a conscience for Yuki as he once performed some assassinations in the form of terrorism against the state; he questions her moral beliefs when he finds out her links to the House of Takemikazuchi. I believe this approach is a nice touch since it takes the film from a simple revenge premise to a warmer one of one's desire to escape their past choices to happier and warmer pastures.
The action/swordplay choreography by Donnie Yen raises the expectations of the action fanatic. His choreography is quite inventive as he mixes in almost anime-like posturing with the usual chaotic swordplay. The Donnie Yen touch is omnipresent in each duel with each ascending and sliding sword strokes; grappling is even used in close quarters with superb execution that shows ferocity. However, even with the sheer intensity of the action footages, one may notice and give comparison to previous samurai films; the KATANA sword is NOT a one-handed sword. Yen choreographs the scenes with the usual wire-fu at times and the mentioned Katana swords are sometimes wielded like a one-handed flat TAI-CHI sword whose concept is to wound an opponent before a kill. This presents a little inaccuracy in the sequences. However exciting the swordplay sequences may be, they aren't without fault and I've definitely seen better ones executed in other modern chambara films such as AZUMI and ARAGAMI.
"Princess Blade" may not be a perfect film but it does offer interesting concepts of redemption and gives homage to past samurai period films. The director may have become a bit over-ambiguous with his views of way too many topics and philosophical issues that the proceedings seem to lose their intensity and the film almost stops to a crawl around the middle. With its darker setting and the post-apocalyptic atmospheric feel, the themes of samurai films by Kurosawa and Inagaki are still the main ingredients. Fans expecting a non-stop action spectacle may be a bit disappointed; as with most Japanese films it leans more towards its humanity and focuses on its philosophy. Still, the gorgeous visuals with the action choreography do create a unique experience for samurai aficionados.
RECOMMENDED! [3 ½ stars]
I have the region-3 release from IVL with Anamorphically Enhanced picture transfer. The U.S. release is Letterboxed and carries a Japanese Language track as well as an English Dubbed track. Use the Japanese track with the subtitles. The U.S. region 1 release does have a lot of extras I've heard.
The Princess Blade The plot was a little lacking , but made up for it with alot of sword playing action. After on a rollercoster of action the plot came into play now. At first , not much.. but towards the end..you'll never guess. If you like cute girl with sword and knows how to use it..get it. The action scenes are great.
BLAH BLAH BLAH I was all geeked to watch this but was disapponted...I don't feel lke they picked the right person to direct this movie. It seemed very empty to me! The fighting scenes were blah and that was what really blew it for me...maybe if it was longer it would have been better? I don't know...and then there was a mini plot with a brother and sister that SEEMED OUT OF PLACE!! sigh...Azumi was a much better martial arts sword movie.
It's interesting but I won't watch it often I didn't the story to be quite the way Amazon tells it. To me it seems the monarchy has been long overthrown, something about 500 years (even though the cars, clothing and so on are unchanged- you don't really see much of that world)and Japan is an isolated country with a repressive government that sounds to me something like what Cuba has these days. The assassins are out after the rebels (who seem to use a lot of violence although you won't see it)who oppose the government.
I found the movie to be very depressing, a couple of characters even saying, "Let's leave this country and find someplace to be happy". The action/violence comes in spurts- most of it suprisingly not very bloody. Yumiko Shaku (who in her interview says she had no experience and only a week or so of practice before filming to get it) seems to be the best of the actors and have the best scenes in my opinion, without her work I don't know that I'd even want to see this movie again.
When I played my copy I noticed that it seems to be set for English (the dubbing is very well done) but can be set for Japanese with English subtitles, there's no closed captioning but you can use the subtitle function with the English dubbing if you need it as a substitute. The extras include some bloopers and behind the scenes things and some cast/ crew interviews. Most of these are in Japanese with English subtitling although Donnie Yen (the action choreographer) does his bit in English with Japanese subtitling.
OH MAN WAS THAT WAS AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 500 years have passed. That is what is says at the start. Now maybe these movies are like really common, but I need a story that is at least explainable. But the good news is that the drama is great. The comedy is really funny even though sparingly used. The action is done in a very hong kong type of style. Not what I swas expecting, cuause that is like what I always watch, but good none the less. I could have used a lttle more action, btu man was it spectacular. The wire work is noticeable, but not to make that actors look better, rather to show what happens when you get REAL athletes on wires. The fighting is VERY real throughout the whole film, and even though I like really bloody stuff, I thought this just hit the spot, but went a tad too extreme midway through. Not complaining, just warnign people it is rated R for a reason. But seriosly this movie is a 5/5. The story just needed to be A LOT better. Great acting, just no story. But I remember one scene in particular where the princess is taking on like 7 people all by herself, and the action is just seriously second to none. Add in like 5 other scenes that almost, just almost match that one. Wow what a violently spectacular film. WHEW, now that I got that point across, I can discuss the actual movie. OH BTW, I did see AT LEAST one of donnie's kicks in here, so look closely:)
So the story is about a japanese girl who is part of a team of assasins. I guess that assasins rule the world by killing people who are uprising or something in this. But anyway, the girl in this movie is like the last of her blood line and once she rebels, the other assasins want to kill her. It talks briefly how she is descended form like LONG ago and this is of great importance. But the part that captured me was the dark mood of the movie. the story is not good, but the huuman conflict going on is a very good movie watchign experience for anyone. There is a subplot which turn even darker at teh end. But overall, a wonderful movie. Also the music is great and really helps to capture the mood.
Now I have the adv films dvd and have to disagree with the pervious reviewer and say that the english dub sucks. The japanese track is AWESOME and is full of all types of emotion. If he would haev said it was better than most, I would have agreed, cause it certainly was! Sound is wonderful when the music is playing but the volume is a bit slow when it is not. The picture quality is perfecto and is widescreened. Special features-nothing. Just some anime trailers.
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