THE BLIND SWORDSMAN: ZATOICHI — *** 1/2 — Beat Takeshi Kitano, Gadarukanaru Taka, Tadanobu Asano; in Japanese, with English subtitles; rated R (violence, gore, profanity, brief sex, vulgarity).
The digitally created splatters of blood — done to give the movie a more "otherworldly" look, according to the filmmakers — aren't the only thing that's odd about "The Blind Swordsman: Zatoichi."
At times this bloody revenge thriller actually verges on becoming a full-on comedy (which is in keeping with the tone of several of Akira Kurosawa's old samurai movies, as well as earlier "Zatoichi" films).
And to top things off, there's what can best be described as an ensemble tap-dance number at the end! Yes, that's right, a dance number. It pays homage to some of the conventions of old Japanese theater — especially Kabuki — and reintroduces the characters, thereby allowing the actors who play them to take a final curtain call.
It's very odd. But for the most part, such risky maneuvers work and give the whole picture a refreshing, unique feel.
The title character of "The Blind Swordsman: Zatoichi" is the same one that spawned a couple dozen earlier films. This time around, the character is played by multi-talented Japanese performer Beat Takeshi Kitano, who also wrote and directed the film.
This Zatoichi adventurer finds the sight-impaired masseur and master cane-swordsman still traveling from town to town. He finds more trouble than jobs, and this time winds up helping a town bedeviled by two clans of crooks.
Among those he encounters along the way are unlucky gambler Shinkichi (Gadarukanaru Taka) and Oume (Michiyo Ookusu), Shinkichi's equally unfortunate aunt, as well as two geishas (Daigoro Tachibana and Yuuko Daike) who are not what they appear to be.
Zatoichi must also have the inevitable showdown with another ronin, or masterless samurai — Gennosuke Hattori (Tadanobu Asano), who may be his match with a sword, or even better.
As with most of Kitano's films, there's a great deal of humor here, including some hilarious goofy bits regarding Zatoichi's unerring accuracy.
And the sword-fighting scenes are very well done. Also, they're not quite as over-the-top gory as you might fear (which isn't to say that they aren't graphic, but they don't get even close to the envelope-pushing sequences in the "Kill Bill" films).
On the performance side, Kitano seems to be relishing his quiet-but-deadly role. And Taka adds a welcome comic presence.
"The Blind Swordsman: Zatoichi" is rated R for strong scenes of sword violence (stabbings and slashings), as well as some slapstick, gore, scattered use of profanity, some brief sexual contact, and vulgarity (innuendo-laced song lyrics). Running time: 116 minutes.
E-mail: jeff@desnews.com