Zatôichi (The Blind Swordsman: Zatoichi) Reviews
August 13, 2020
A gorgeous and evocative piece of entertainment that takes a deliberately playful approach to its genre.
Full Review
| Original Score: B+
December 20, 2017
This film is a shebang, a full-scale show, complete with everything you would happily pay to see: costumes, tattoos, scratchy folk music, gambling in saki dens. You will eat it up.
August 24, 2017
If you're looking for a real hero you could really do no better than Takeshi Kitano's blind masseur, Zatoichi.
May 27, 2011
The Blind Swordsman: Zatoichi begins life as a straight-up samurai movie, evolves into a slapstick comedy and ends as a rousing, tap-dancing musical.
December 28, 2010
This non-traditional samurai movie isn't for kids.
Full Review
| Original Score: 3/5
September 27, 2009
Violent and bloody, carefully choreographed and filled with dry humor, Takeshi Kitano's modern take on the classic Japanese character is a unique vision that's told with confidence.
September 22, 2009
Zatoichi is a bloody film that also manages to be beautiful and funny.
Full Review
| Original Score: 8/10
September 17, 2009
Three-frame cuts of the action from multiple camera angles, hose-spurted blood and superimposed wounds do what they can in their primitive way to get you past the problem of improbability.
Full Review
| Original Score: 2.5/5
September 17, 2009
Seen now, sans all the hype and hoopla)...we can gauge Kitano's production for what it truly is - a compelling and quite complex bit of fractured folklore.
Full Review
| Original Score: 3.5/5
April 29, 2009
Beat Takeshi's take on the Zatoichi storyline is very entertaining and continuously original...
Full Review
| Original Score: 3/4
October 18, 2008
I freely admit that I have not been seduced by Takeshi Kitano's films, no, not even Hana-Bi.
December 27, 2007
The result meanders, but provides a few exciting moments.
Full Review
| Original Score: 2/4
November 1, 2007
Zatoichi is a mix-and-match crowd-pleaser that shouldn't add up, but delightfully does.
April 1, 2006
Imposing, yet often intimate. Abrasive, but amusing. Arty, but eminently accessible. Bring on the sequel.
Full Review
| Original Score: 4/5
February 9, 2006
However improbably, Kitano pulls it off quite gloriously. Admittedly, this isn't one of his most idiosyncratic, innovative or, indeed, satisfying works, but it's without doubt fast, funny, fabulous to behold.
May 3, 2005
Parecera que Kitano se est divirtiendo, ms que nada.
Full Review
| Original Score: 3/5
December 18, 2004
uma pena que esta tenha sido, provavelmente, a nica incurso de Kitano pelo universo de Zatoichi. Seria bom ver o samurai cego mais vezes.
Full Review
| Original Score: 4/5
November 16, 2004
A rich display of fantasy swordsplay at its goriest, slickest and most demanding.
Full Review
| Original Score: B-
November 11, 2004
Despite its period setting, it's a return to the combination of slapstick humor, dramatic intrigue, and sudden bloodshed that distinguished his early efforts. In other words, it's vintage Kitano.
October 28, 2004
I'd call Zatoichi stylish to the point of distraction, except I'm not sure what I was being distracted from.
Full Review
| Original Score: 7/10