Azumi



Azumi (2003) is Ryuhei Kitamura’s valentine to the more fantastic edge of Japanese martial arts cinema. If you watched afternoon TV as a kid or buy public domain tapes with names like Legend of the Eight Samurai you probably know the kind of movie I’m talking about. Movies like The Magic Serpent (1966), a delirious flick about ninja/sorcerers and giant monsters, or Ninja Wars (1980), in which a “devil monk” attacks his foes by spitting acid that looks like yellow vomit, or the animated classic Dagger of Kamui (1985). These movies featured ninjas who wore color-coded clothing and had all sorts of bizarre powers, memorably eccentric villains, and lots of gory deaths. These movies more or less represented the translation of the Shaw Brother’s style to Japan, though the Japanese seemed hell bent on outweirding the Hong Kong model at every turn.


"Point that at me again and I'll make you eat it."

The set-up of Azumi is remarkably similar to the movie Naked Weapon (2003), which I reviewed a few days ago. After fighting in the huge battle that brought Tokugawa to power in 1600, an honorable samurai is instructed by a priest to train a cadre of youth as super-assassins to help maintain stability in Japan. Some years later the samurai has ten surprisingly well-adjusted teenaged assassins ready, and as a graduation exercise he has them pair up with other student they like the best… and fight to the death. The five remaining teenagers, including cute Azumi (Aya Ueto), are given the mission of killing three lords who are threatening to rebel against Tokugawa.

Killing the first lord takes a couple minutes. For a guy who is openly plotting treason, he doesn’t take security very seriously. The movie then gets hung up on the second lord, with the third lord going unmentioned until the very last scene.


Like a rolling ninja.

The second lord, Kiyomasa, figures out from the previous lord’s death that his life is in danger, so he collects the most formidable group of fighters he can think of to defend him. This includes a guy with a scar and a three-barreled gun; a ninja with Bob Dylan hair and the demeanor of a monkey who makes sounds like a scared dog when attacked; and a pale, effeminate swordsman who throws roses at his opponents. Not exploding roses, or poisoned roses, or even super-thorny roses, just plain old roses.

Kitamua tries hard to fit every cliché of the genre into Azumi. There’s the scene where someone kills their best friend, there’s someone poisoned by a ninja weapon, there’s a warrior who kills himself rather than be a burden, someone uses a double to escape assassination, there’s a sword fight in a field of waving grass, there’s a couple of attempted rapes, and of course the final fight takes place because Azumi’s master is captured and used as bait.


Next in Kitchen Stadium...

The one thing Kitamura doesn't have much spraying blood, a somewhat odd omission considering the gore on display in Kitamura's breakthrough, Versus (2000). I suspect that's because Azumi was designed to appeal to female audiences, with its diminutive, sensitive hero and her non-threatening ninja friends. Speaking of Azumi being diminutive, like 2002's The Princess Blade I found the small size of the female lead to be distracting, especially because they insist on giving her a sword far larger than she could actually wield. That, plus the way the film expects us to believe that the child assassins could possible be so sensitive and well-adjusted after their upbringing stretches credulity.


"Where's Uma Thurman?"

If you have an affection for those weird old ninja films, than you'll probably enjoy Kitamura's glossy update. Whatever else you say about Azumi, it does have lots of action. There are a bunch of impressive set-pieces and lots of neat camera moves. I just mourn the lack of acid-spitting monks.

Posted: Sun - November 7, 2004 at      

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