Review of Blade of the Immortal (2017)

Moving picture, 140 minutes

Seen in 2020.

The concept for the original comic is Edo-era 3×3 Eyes (1991). Miike’s adaptation is mostly chanbara. Alas, the many fights are photographed and edited for the purpose of not having to choreograph them. It looks uniformly boring, which is a problem in long-form action cinema. Also, despite his gruffness, Manji is not Ryūnosuke from Daibosatsu Pass (1966).

moving picture Japanese production fiction