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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 77
Average rating: 4.0 of 5
Sonatine, with a decent bonus film to boot! 5 out of 5 stars.
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This is definitely worth purchasing for Sonatine; while I'm not sure why this film wasn't released on its own, I'm glad its reaching a wider audience because of the bonus film it came with, Zatoichi. Sonatine is one of the greatest films ever made, and this is a great deal.
The Terminator in Edo Japan 3 out of 5 stars.
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In early 2004 I saw Takeshi Kitano's ZATOICHI in the local cinema, intrigued by a Japanese feature but knowing nothing of the long tradition of films with Zatoichi, the blind swordsman. I never did see the earlier films with Shintaro Katsu, but I continue to enjoy Takeshi Kitano's take on the character. The plot is fairly basic, rival gangs are fighting for control of a small town, and the locals are obliged to pay increasing amounts protection money. Into this steps Zatoichi, played by Takeshi himself, as well as another itinerant swordsman who seeks to do the dirty work of one of the gangs in order to help his sick wife. Zatoichi falls in with a poor farmer, as do two geishas who are traveling about to get revenge on the gang members who killed their parents. Over the course of the films, Zatoichi proceeds to slay an enormous amount of people, with some vivid CGI blood painted over each fatal sword blow. In spite of the generic setup, the production values and a few of the twists in the story make this an enjoyable film.
I know that Takeshi has been criticized for completely doing away with the back story around Zatoichi. Here the only sign that he has a past at all is when a gang member says, "Could this blind man be Zatoichi", and a flashback where he silently kills a group of nameless foes. Instead, Takeshi brings the character between the two extremes of charming, but taciturn, old blind man and unstoppable killing machine. But nonetheless, I like how universal the Zatoichi character is, even when he is as mechanical as Kitano sometimes makes him. The archetype of the man of piercing intelligence who fains disability or madness appears in Western art from Hamlet to Russian holy fools, so all audiences will respond to Zatoichi. And sure, the action is sometimes hard to believe, but Takeshi knows this and has injected a level of grim humour into the film.
My only complaint about the film's action is that the final battle between Zatoichi and the bodyguard is anticlimactic. After building up the polarity between them for over an hour, there could have been more to it than a single blow. In addition, the soundtrack strikes me as exceedingly lame until the nice taiko drumming that closes the film.
I cannot comment on SONATINE, as in my market the two films were not released together.
Editorial Review:
Studio: Buena Vista Home Video Release Date: 08/02/2005 Run time: 210 minutes Rating: R
![Zatoichi Meets Yojimbo [VHS]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/71JF8NHCW7L._SL75_.gif "Zatoichi Meets Yojimbo [VHS]"){kind=small}
![Zatoichi - The Best Cuts (1967-1973) [Soundtrack] Akira Ifukube, Isao Tomita, Kunihiko Murai, Shigeru Ikeno](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41yVXZNqYaL._SL75_.jpg "Zatoichi - The Best Cuts (1967-1973) [Soundtrack] Akira Ifukube, Isao Tomita, Kunihiko Murai, Shigeru Ikeno")
