Steineded How sad is this?

Glimmerubro It is not deep, but it is fun to watch. It does have a bit more of an edge to it than other similar films.

Roman Sampson One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

Erica Derrick By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Seth_Rogue_One About a blind but deadly woman forsaken by her home-village and a man she meets on the way.It's not packed with non-stop action it's more story based than it is action based but the action that there is is really well orchestrated.The story packs plenty of emotion, possibly a bit depressing for some people but I enjoyed it.The acting, cinematography, music, editing etc is all good even if the second half gets a little too slow at times but one could argue that it needed to be, anyway yeah overall it's a stellar piece of work that should satisfy your samurai-movie needs.

mmushrm Ichi is supposed to be a remake of Zatoichi but for some reason I feel that its more like the 1st Crimson Bat movie.I think a lot of the negative reviews is because of its inevitable (since it claims to be a zatoichi remake) comparison to Zatoichi. The characters are of course blind but while the zatoichi characters have mannerism such as the way he acted, the facial expressions and the way he talked. This Ichi is totally devoid of all personality. Ichi's features range from wooden stoic to wooden sadness to wooden expressionless. Her speech is in monotone and her action/motion are no different from people with vision, except for the cane.However if you compare it to Crimson Bat it becomes better. The plot and character becomes almost similar, abandoned by parent and took up Goze as a living. Travelling in search of the parent. The unseeing open eyes and expressionless face (although Crimson Bat still shows more personality). Even the gambling sequence where she wins by listening to the dice.The actions scenes with Ichi are not bad, nice quick and slow motioned sequence. One cut type kills. But the action sequence are far in between. But the part where she fights the main baddie is weak.A well shot movie thats worth a watch. Just don't compare it to Zatoichi.

njmollo Zatoichi, the blind wandering yakuza, as played by Shintaro Katsu, is a broad and irreverent character. He is at times, funny or serious, crafty and silly, pathetic yet heroic. In fact this character tramples over the affectations and customs of the day with intelligence and glee. This finely tuned and expansive portrayal of Zatoichi by Shintaro Katsu is the main reason his numerous films and TV episodes still endure today.Ichi (2008) is an alternative take on the blind wandering Yakuza character and Zatoichi becomes a blind wandering Goze (female blind musician). The main problem with Ichi (2008) is that the titular character has no character. Haruka Ayase plays Ichi with only one expression, that of dead-pan emotionless. This incarnation of Ichi has no humour, pity or sympathy. The acting in general is pretty poor with scowling cackling villains complimented by dull non-expression. Apart from the action the film is shot very much like a TV movie.The fight scenes in the original Zatoichi movies and TV episodes all had one thing in common, the suddenness and brutality of the action. Shintaro Katsu's dexterity and deftness with the sword and also the long single takes allowed the action to be seen and as a result the fights were almost always surprising. In the same way you may enjoy and marvel at a Bruce Lee fight, the same can be said of a Shintaro Katsu sword fight.In Ichi (2008) this sudden and convincing violence is gone, to be replaced by the cinematic cliché of real-time cut to slow-motion and back again. This gimmick does not help the audience with actually seeing the action, as most of it is missed by the selected camera set-ups or the self-conscious rapid editing. The CGI blood adds nothing to make the violence more authentic.Haruka Ayase is unconvincing in the fight scenes. She may hit her marks but there is little force behind the sword to make it believable she is cutting up men like butter. This same problem occurred with Azumi (2003) when Aya Ueto skipped through the fight scenes with ineptitude and men simply fell-over. For the best results in female martial arts action, it is better to cast an actress with a background in dance or martial arts like or Ziyi Zhang in House of Flying Daggers (2004) or Yanin "Jeeja" Vismistananda in Chocolate (2008).Ichi (2008) is a missed opportunity scuppered by mediocrity.

karateluke2000 I hate this film, It is really one of the worst Asian films I have ever seen. Now everyone who has heard of Zatoichi or seen even some of his films or episodes,then you know how the story goes. Me personally I only saw the last movie with the original actor and the 2003 adaptation so I am not biased in the least. Now some people are either giving it flack or praise for casting a female lead. To me I don't care in the slightest. Haruka Ayase is really good in this role as Ichi and she comes in and slices and dices her foes as expected.Then comes in the secondary character, the buffoon Fujihara who likes to run to the rescue, but can't draw his sword because when he was little he swung his sword, broke the tip of said sword, which flew across the court yard while his mother who happened to be passing through who gets slashed across the eyes blinding her. This is which in turn makes him unable to draw his sword. You honestly would think you were watching a Final Destination film. And you know what it didn't bother me until he starts lecturing Ichi on stepping up and saving lives and that is when he the film goes down hill. This man claimed he stepped in to help, yet if Ichi wasn't around he would have been killed along with the hooker.Now I don't know if the director is a chauvinist, but if you have movie, named Ichi, and the lead actress is named Ichi and if her picture is posted on covers, trailers and posters, then why doesn't she play second fiddle to the buffoon? I mean seriously, the girl is badass, she's tough and you like her, but after one confrontation with the big boss (another problem with this movie) the buffoon suddenly realizes he is an ass and takes out the bad guy in a few strokes? Isn't she the star, shouldn't she have the chance to redeem herself as so many other characters do in movies like this? Instead they make her contemplate life and gets saved by a man and cry! This is the kinda crap that gets me with movies and shows in general. They build up these characters and make them larger than life, but for reasons that defy me, they add a little dose of "realism" and make the character fall into a generic stereotype. Its like making The Bride in Kill Bill find her daughter midway through the film and she spends the rest of the film dodging assassins and panicking like a concerned mother. Didn't this character mow down dozens of bad guys in the previous films? It doesn't follow the same tone.If you want to watch this movie for Haruka Ayase's looks and acting ability, just remember; there are two little things called youtube and google and you can watch her anytime you want instead of shelling out twenty dollars on this movie. Skip this movie!