Azumi (2003)

Based on a popular manga series centring around a young girl who is raised by assassins and eventually set on a mission to kill off some warlords who threaten the peace of Japan.More samurai than you can shake a stick at, yes we've seen this kind of thing before but for some reason that doesn't matter. There is nothing better than seeing a well made Japanese film about their past, yes this has a lot of artistic license and is more fantasy based but its still damn fun.A curious set of characters all led by their strict master and all played well by the cast, Aya Ueto as 'Azumi' is ultra cute, not the most authentic looking samurai but this is manga adaptation. The rest of the cast are unknown to me but do the job well, nothing too special or original but its entertaining. The deadly character of 'Bijomaru Mogami' is fun, an egotistical lethal merc who kills pretty much anyone for fun and is dressed all in flowing white, think along the lines of 'Vega' from the Street Fighter II video game franchise.Action is fast fluid and bloody when it kicks in as you might expect but its not over done. There is the odd moment of high flying wire work which spoils it in my view, they love that in Japan for some reason. The plot is simple and easily followed, the film looks great in terms of costumes, weapons and location and it comes across perfectly as an adaptation.7/10

Reading some of the reviews I just can't understand how anyone can give this anything higher than 6. It's a hack'n'slash movie from 2003 without any blood? People are dying by having the backside of a sword hitting their stomach! By someone parrying their blow! If it was made in the 70s fair enough but really. Going through a 2 hour long movie off people "dying" by the sword, without a sword getting bloody except for maybe every third of the fight scenes? That just bothers me greatly. Do not waste your time on this. If you want a good Samurai action-packed movie I recommend "13 Assassins"

Asian Swordplay cinema has celebrated a huge revival in the past years, and it seems that the overall opinion on "Azumi" of 2003 is a very positive one. I am a huge fan, especially of Japanese Chambara and Jidaigeki films, yet I will personally always prefer the great films in the field that have been made in the 60s and especially the 70s, such as the "Lone Wolf And Cub" (aka. "Kozure Ôkami" films starring Tomisaburo Wakayama, the "Zatoichi" and "Hanzo The Razor" films starring Shintarô Katsu, "Lady Snowblood" starring Meiko Kaji or "Sex And Fury" starring Reiko Ike. This is not to say, however, that I am not interested in stylish present day Bloodshed à la Nippon, as I also enjoy recent Japanese Swordplay films immensely. "Azumi" in particular, however, did not blow me away like it obviously did many of the other users of this great site. The film is doubtlessly entertaining and stylish, but it also tends to get a bit monotonous. Eponimous heroine Azumi (Aya Ueto) is one of ten mighty young warriors who have been brought up by a master just to serve one purpose - to go on daring missions in order to assassinate warlords hostile to the Shogunate. When the Warriors are (supposedly) still in their late teens, they are called to fulfill their destiny... "Azumi" is stylish, bloody and action-packed from the beginning. The at the time only 18-year-old leading lady Aya Ueto is the cutest, most lovable killing-machine imaginable. The bloody fights are very well-done, even though not quite as gory as I expected them to be. The major problem of Azumi is the fact that it is slightly confused and monotonous at the same time. We basically tremble from one sword-fight into another, which is all fine, but which begins to get a bit tedious after a while. To me personally, the score also got pretty annoying occasionally. Still, the heroine, the bloody fights and the nice atmosphere, as well as a bunch of pretty original and demented villains, easily make up for the films flaws. Overall, "Azumi" is certainly no genre-highlight or must-see of any sorts, but it is nonetheless a fun flick that I recommend to my fellow fans of Chambara and Jidaigeki cinema.

this movie was absolutely terrible, it reminded me of a bad episode of power rangers extended to the length of a full movie with gore. it lacked a coherent story, and good acting. the camera angles were all messed up with the worst being a 360 degree pan around Azumi while she was fighting an insane bad guy with absolutely no back story except for the fact that his sword had no hand-guard because he didn't defend. characters randomly resurrect from the dead. the wire work is obvious and so is the green screen used in the first also the movie moves along at a snails pace which is really aggravating to see in a movie that is supposed to be action packed.