![]() ![]() Forms of combat become a major current in “Blade of the Immortal,” especially as more and more styles come into play and politics between rival schools become important. That final phrase is key to the narrative of “Blade of the Immortal.” Kagehisa Anotsu (the nearly movie-stealing Sota Fukushi), the man who leads the assassins who killed Rin’s father, comes from a different school of swordplay and represents a darker, more violent future for the samurai warrior. Of course, Manji gets a final chance to matter to someone when he’s found by a girl named Rin Asano ( Hana Sugisaki) after her parents are killed by group of assassins who are trying to change the way of the samurai. He is not an immortal in the superhero sense of the word, but an immortal in the way that we often see ghosts represented in fiction-as people forced to stay on Earth and forever regret their sins. He has had generations to mourn the loss of the only person he cared about and lament the code of honor he can no longer follow. Just a fun little piece of trivia- "The Matrix" did not invent this trick.“Blade of the Immortal” tells the story of Manji ( Takuya Kimura), a samurai who is blessed/cursed with immortality. (Also, a cool note, this movie is one of the several pre-"Matrix" films to utilize "bullet-time", that cool trick where action slows down dramatically to the point where you can see individual bullets whooshing through the air. I'd highly recommend it to fans of action and horror. In addition, there are a couple of scenes and jokes that stick out like a sore thumb, and the tone is a bit too oppressive, making this a hard movie to sit through if you are not in the right mood. It is the bloodiest of the three movies, and has a lot of gore, which actually almost took me "out" of the movie a few times- some scenes felt campy with the sheer amount of carnage and goo being flung at the screen. I should also mention that this is a violent, violent film. The action is nice, though it feels a little staged and over-choreographed, and the visual effects, for the time, were outstanding. Acting is generally good (though Dorf does get a little hammy at times) and everything meshes quite well. The score by Mark Isham is tragic and melancholy, with some nice techno-y action music thrown in for good measure. ![]() Norrington's direction sets an ominous and deadly mood, and the visuals are all well-crafted. Blade and Whistler (along with help from a pathologist played by N'Bushe Wright) must figure out a way to stop Frost's deadly plans before he wipes out all of humanity. At the same time, a vampire named Deacon Frost (Stephen Dorf) is plotting to overthrow the noble heads of the various vampire clans, and using them as sacrifices to bring about "La Magra" a vampyric blood-god, to destroy humanity and grant himself untold power. Blade and his mentor Whistler (Krist Kristopherson) spend their nights hunting and killing vampires who feed on the humans. His mother was bitten while pregnant, and his blood was infected by the vampire virus, granting him some vampire-like powers (such as inhuman strength), although he also suffers from "The Thirst"- the vampire's natural need to feast on human blood, which he combats using treatments and serums, almost like a drug addict. Blade (Wesley Snipes) is a half-human, half-vampire. The film is an incredible, Gothic ride with great performances and unique visuals, and should be seen by any fan of action, horror or film in general. It's success (along with that of "X-Men") caused people to do something they always should have- take comics seriously as an art form and a medium for storytelling. Stephen Norrington's 1998 release "Blade" (based on the Marvel comic character) is the film that arguably lead to the recent trend of comic-book movies. ![]()
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