Their battle manages to be both the film’s most bizarrely violent sequence, and its most quietly compelling. However, it’s also evident in an unexpected confrontation that comes midway through Blade of the Immortal when Manji engages in a fight with another centuries-old samurai. That’s true in the film’s opening and closing set pieces, which see Manji (and, occasionally, several other characters) use their samurai skills to lay waste to entire armies. The film’s later action sequences all stick to that formula, allowing Miike to showcase his technical prowess and stylistic ingenuity as a filmmaker as well as his unique ability to ground even the most ludicrously violent moments in genuine human emotions. Not only is the scene brilliantly staged, but it’s rooted in Manji’s emotional turmoil. Shot in stunning black and white, Blade of the Immortal’s opening sequence sets the tone for everything that follows. That combination becomes evident in the opening minutes, which see Manji tear through an army of bounty hunters with his katana as revenge for their murder of his sister. After spending decades living like a walking ghost, Manji is approached by a young girl, Rin Asano (Hana Sugisaki), who asks for his help in killing the society of assassins that murdered her parents.īlade of the Immortal is both a relentlessly violent action film as well as a strange and surprisingly sweet story about one immortal man’s desire to protect the little girl who’s come into his life. Based on the manga of the same name by Hiroaki Samura, Blade of the Immortal follows Manji (Takuya Kimura), a samurai who becomes infected with bloodworms that have the power to keep him alive forever despite his desperation to die following the murder of his younger sister, Machi.
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