When a movie tries to update an old beloved series into what is called a “re-imagining,” it often results in a disastrous effort that either loses the charm of the original(s) or becomes a pale imitation. Takeshi Kitano’s Zatoichi is one of those rare successes. While he’s made a number of incredible films meditating on the harshness of violence, Kitano at his heart still remains a playful comedian (Americans probably know him best as one of the two hosts of Takeshi’s Castle, better known in the U.S. as its Spike TV dubbed version called MXC), and his Zatoichi is a reflection of that side.
The original Zatoichi: The Blind Swordsman series spanned 26 movies and four TV seasons—all of them starring Shintaro Katsu. It would be hard for any other actor to fill those shoes if he wasn’t a giant like Kitano, who fearlessly grabbed the role and retooled it into his own. His idea was to bring the character into the 21st century using a number of modern changes: foremost and obvious is by dyeing his hair peroxide-blond for the role. If anyone can pull off a blond feudal Japan swordsman, it’s Kitano. In addition to the cosmetic transformation, Kitano also injects a lot of his offbeat sense of humor into it, perhaps pulling the leg of the samurai genre a little bit, making the role more suitable for him to play. The blind warrior is an archetype in martial arts or fantasy that’s often portrayed as being able to “see” better than the average human eye, but Kitano isn’t afraid to play around with the idea of blindness (which many people seem to misunderstand). His Zatoichi can dodge an attack before the opponent even moves, but still trips over rocks walking.
The plot follows the standard Zatoichi formula: the blind masseur wanders into town, finds innocent people bullied by the local Yakuza gangs, then surprises everyone by his ability to kick a lot of ass. Kitano can’t help but to examine violence again—though this time not so harshly—by giving the supporting characters diverse reasons to want to become killers; be it machismo, remorse, revenge, or even simple-mindedness. Even Zatoichi’s main opponent in the film, a ronin played by fan-favorite Tadanobu Asano, only becomes a bodyguard to the Yakuza to earn enough money to take care of his poor ailing wife. Zatoichi himself is portrayed as a man masquerading to be an affable blind old man, but as shown by a wordless flashback, is haunted by a past that always compels him to react violently.
Another touch of brilliance is the use of CG to render the blood sprays, which makes no attempt whatsoever to look realistic. Kitano uses them more like decorations for the frame—they’re really quite beautiful, with the blood forming flower patterns in certain action scenes. The film also has a musical quality to it, with numerous transition scenes that are like mini musical numbers (such as one with farmers raking soil in turns to form a rhythm), which is why it really shouldn’t be surprising to anyone that the film ends with a big joyous dance number.
All this makes the film insanely entertaining, which was Kitano’s primary intention when bringing the character back. I’ll even dare say that, disregarding nostalgic preference for the Shintaro Katsu films, this is easily the best Zatoichi film of all.
Audio & Video
The picture quality is bright and slick, looking beautiful and complimenting gorgeous cinematography (the HD even makes the CG blood pop even more). It does, however, change the film’s intended palette a little, but not enough to take anything away from the film. As with their other foreign movie releases, the original Japanese track is slightly inferior to the lossless DTS-HD audio of the English dub. Disappointing in terms of their priorities, but it’s not like the difference is glaring. I briefly chuckled at the inclusion of a Spanish dub. Dubbings in general are odd to me, but foreign movies dubbed in another foreign language is even more so.
Blu-ray Bonus Features
The main feature on the disc is a very informative 35-minute behind-the-scenes documentary about the making of the film, from the announcement up to the film’s premiere, narrated in English. During the press conference, Kitano explains his intentions with the film and cracks jokes about it, which is almost as good as a commentary track. Almost. The other feature is a collection of individual interviews with below-the-line crew members.
A beautiful film on a superb format. While it isn’t much in terms of the supplements, Zatoichi is every bit worth the dime spent. Even the cover art sits pretty in white.
"The Blind Swordsman: Zatoichi" is on sale September 15, 2009 and is rated R. Action, Adventure, Comedy, Drama. Written and directed by Takeshi Kitano. Starring Takeshi Kitano, Tadanobu Asano, Michiyo Ookusu, Gadarukanaru Taka, Daigorô Tachibana, Yûko Daike.
