Average Rating: 5.9/10
Reviews Counted: 28
Fresh: 16 | Rotten: 12
The action is fast and tightly choreographed, but The Princess Blade never draws its disparate elements into a compelling movie.
Average Rating: 5.8/10
Critic Reviews: 10
Fresh: 6 | Rotten: 4
The action is fast and tightly choreographed, but The Princess Blade never draws its disparate elements into a compelling movie.
liked it
Average Rating: 3.3/5
User Ratings: 7,721
Based on a manga series, this science fiction-adventure is set in a near future in which Japan is governed by a monarchy who use a highly trained band of samurai-style assassins known as the House of Takemikazuchi to suppress a fierce band of rebels. Yuki (Yumiko Shaku), a lethal young female member of the group, discovers that her mother was betrayed and murdered by the their leader, and swears vengeance. After being wounded in battle, she takes refuge in a remote gas station run by Takashi
R, 1 hr. 32 min.
Action & Adventure, Anime & Manga, Art House & International, Science Fiction & Fantasy
Oct 10, 2002 Wide
Nov 18, 2003
ADV Films
All Critics (28) | Top Critics (10) | Fresh (16) | Rotten (12) | DVD (4)
Delicately rendered, if full of pretty banal sentiments, the film's softer central section is a necessary counterweight to the other two acts, which are largely shot in an oppressive blue filter.
[Yumiko Shaku] doesn't project the confidence or menace that the role requires. Trying to pass her off as a stone-cold assassin is like casting Britney Spears as Marie Curie -- it just doesn't jibe.
Its corny streak brings the movie too close to cut-rate Chinese Opera epics than should be allowed.
Great movie, mediocre script.
The cast, in its quiet, iconic way, is superb.
The Princess Blade would have been better off forgetting the love story and concentrating on the kick-ass action.
A fine remake of "Lady Snowblood," with Donnie Yen fight choreograpy to boot
the film's opening action sequence is the first of several that are likely to have you thumbing the backscan button because they look so damn cool (and are so damn fast).
Action directors take note: This is how it's done.
Sato seems to be trying to make several different movies at once, and none of them comes through strongly enough to carry the film.
A brooding atmosphere -- which is critic-speak for 'everybody wears black, and the whole thing was lighted with a single 40-watt bulb' -- permeates this dystopian thriller.
It has stylish fighting, but the story doesn't live up to the talent of the fight choreographer.
It's clear that video-game-designer-turned-director Shinsuke Sato knows what he's got: when the action settles down, he wisely hangs the camera on his alluring stars.
By turns violent and brooding, it's stronger on style than on substance, but genre fans might find it at least sporadically amusing.
The beautiful, elegant swordfights are filmed clearly and poetically, and even the down-time between battles doesn't drag too badly.
A stylish Japanese effort adapted from a popular manga that blends the thematic substance of a Toho Samurai epic with the quicksilver visceral assault of a Shaw Brothers Wuxia swordsman saga.
The Princess Blade boasts some of the most dazzling fight choreography in recent memory.
Adventurous viewers will find this unusual genre hybrid an intriguing experience.
A cliched revenge story but enjoyable none the less. Pretty decent fight scenes and a good soundrack to boot. Enjoyable enough but not one I would strongly recommend. If you need to watch Japanese girls swinging swords watch 'Azumi' instead of this, after that watch 'Azumi 2' and if you're still not satisfied 'The
July 20, 2011Super Reviewer
Japanese slash-'em-up based on comic book material. Disappointingly lacking in action during the middle parts where it gets a little slow, but when the action gets going it's pretty cool and stylishly choreographed, all masterminded by action star Donnie Yen. Would have been nice to have a little more fight sequences
January 9, 2011
Super Reviewer
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