What will slay you first--the often histrionic acting or the drag-out boredom of that hulking, two-hour-plus thing in the distance that faintly resembles a plot?
Comment
09/11/07
Azumi (2006)
43 %
Reviews Counted: 28 Fresh: 12 Rotten:16 Average Rating: 5.2/10
Consensus:
This adaptation of the popular manga series offers exquisitely choreographed violence -- and little else.
Runtime: 2 hrs 8 mins
Synopsis: A young orphan is raised to be a deadly assassin in AZUMI. With Japan at war the only hope is for the murder of the deadly warlords who wreak havoc on the country, leading to some fearsome battle scenes as the young, female assassin goes to work.... [More]
Genre: Foreign Films
Starring: Aya Ueto
Director: Ryuhei Kitamura
Reviews
The raw visceral pleasures are enough to carry the film past some clunky melodrama that bloats the film to a two-hour-plus run time.
08/26/07
The tone is bleak and the comic-book violence relentless, but the wirework and Yuta Morokaji's stunt choreography are impressive.
04/18/07
Nothing can lift the glaze from your eyes through the endlessly recurring hokey fight scenes of the movie's interminable 128-minute running time.
03/01/07
Azumi may be an outstanding assassin, but the makers of this movie killed any chances of her being the next great action hero.
10/01/06
Ryuhei Kitamura is 37, but he makes films like a 15-year-old fanboy. That is, he has no sense of story, his visual style is basically point-and-shoot, the boys are cool and rebellious and the girls are cute.
07/28/06
Ueto -- who was only a teenager when the film was made -- is no great actress, but her impressive agility and magnetic presence provide director Ryuhei Kitamura a perfect centerpiece around which to orchestrate his blistering ballet of blood.
07/28/06
Azumi is slick, violently beautiful and appeals directly to the lower sensations. But just because it thrills doesn't necessarily mean it's artless.
07/28/06
An uneven effort overall that when it is working has a strange, engaging energy that is often overturned by an uncertain staidness.
07/27/06
Top Critic
It's a B-movie through and through and its indulgences come from loving the genre too much, not bracketing it with postmodern quotation marks.
07/27/06
Failing in its attempts at Zhang Yimou–like poetry, Azumi calls to mind a long, blood-splattered director’s cut of a Power Rangers episode.
07/27/06
...teen idol Ueto...is not believable as a warrior for even a second.
07/27/06
Though it contains some superbly staged and highly lavish action sequences...[the film] lacks the tautness of its heroine.
07/25/06
Top Critic
Overdone and overlong, but its lunatic flavor -- check out Joe Odagiri's Tiny Tim as ninja sadist -- saves the day.
07/21/06
Azumi (based on a 25-part manga series) has eye-popping battle sequences, but the story is superficial at best.
07/21/06
Plot and character development are quickly sacrificed to over-the-top action, but with a miniskirted menace in the lead, it's safe to say that fans, at least, will love it.
07/21/06
Remains faithful to its highly regarded source with an intelligent script, clever -- if often cruel -- visual flourishes, and thrillingly staged fight sequences.
07/20/06
Adapted from the manga of the same title, this 2003 action flick tracks the blood-spurting adventures of its title character, a young female assassin who wields a lethally mean sword.
07/20/06
Top CriticRelated Forums
Ryuhei Kitamura's AZUMI finally gets a USA theatrical release on July 21, 2006!!!
by: REEL_REVIEWER 11/27/06
by: REEL_REVIEWER 11/27/06
Ryuhei Kitamura's AZUMI finally gets a USA theatrical release on July 21, 2006!!!
by: REEL_REVIEWER 11/27/06
by: REEL_REVIEWER 11/27/06
Ryuhei Kitamura's AZUMI finally gets a USA theatrical release on July 21, 2006!!!
by: REEL_REVIEWER 11/27/06
by: REEL_REVIEWER 11/27/06
Ryuhei Kitamura's AZUMI finally gets a USA theatrical release on July 21, 2006!!!
by: REEL_REVIEWER 11/27/06
by: REEL_REVIEWER 11/27/06
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