Synopsis
Manji, a highly skilled samurai, becomes cursed with immortality after a legendary battle. Haunted by the brutal murder of his sister, Manji knows that only fighting evil will regain his soul. He promises to help a young girl named Rin avenge her parents, who were killed by a group of master swordsmen led by ruthless warrior Anotsu. The mission will change Manji in ways he could never imagine.
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Cast
- Takuya KimuraManji
- Hana SugisakiMachi / Rin Asano
- Sota FukushiAnotsu Kagehisa
- Hayato IchiharaShira
- Erika TodaMakie Otono-Tachibana
- Kazuki KitamuraSabato Kuroi
- Chiaki KuriyamaHyakurin
- Shinnosuke MitsushimaTaito Magatsu
- Ken KanekoHishiyasu Shido
- Yōko YamamotoYaobikuni
Recommendations
- 80
The Guardian
If you are going to see one outlandish and occasionally nauseating bloodbath samurai pic this year, this is the one. - 80
Village Voice
Come for the gory swordplay, stay for the half-serious melodrama. - 75
Slant Magazine
Takashi Miike's film is a work of robust genre craftsmanship that's informed with a sly sense of self-interrogation. - 75
Philadelphia Daily News
The movie also runs 2 hours, 20 minutes, which is a lot of dead samurai. The violence is often numbing, and the translations — the movie is subtitled — are sometimes as deadly as the swordsmanship. On the other hand, Blade of the Immortal is flat-out gorgeous. Widescreen, lush, beautiful. - 70
The Hollywood Reporter
Miike’s facility for the sharply sketched portrait, in between bouts of bladed mayhem, remains as shrewd as ever. - 70
Screen Daily
Miike is on fine form, never losing his sense of humour, or sense of character, even as yet another axe is embedded in yet another skull. - 70
Variety
The story’s supernatural elements enable Miike to take huge liberties with chanbara, the oldest genre in Japanese cinema, and break free from rigid traditions of choreographing swordplay sequences. - 70
The New York Times
Though not nearly as mindful or meaty as Mr. Miike’s 2011 triumph, 13 Assassins, “Blade” is creatively gory fun.
