Azumi

Country: Japan
Genre: Action
Release Year: 2003
Type: Movie

User Reviews
There is 1 user review.
Average User Review Score
75%

Azumi Review
Gessai, a samurai warrior at the Battle of Sekigahara, was given the task to raise a band of children to become assassins for the Leyasu clan. Azumi is among the young children raised to become deadly assassins, and within her peers, she is the most skilled killer. While these young warriors have been raised their entire lives for their "mission," it soon becomes clear to them that the path ahead of them might lead them to make decisions that will haunt their lives forever.

Azumi is similar in nature to Kill Bill; a bloody, gory flick that happens to star an incredibly cute and bouncy Japanese pop-star that also happens to be unstoppable. It seems like a formula made in heaven, at least for the male population, but Azumi has its fair share of problems. Unfortunately, the storyline was inane, random, and ultimately substandard.

Aya Ueto, the actress for Azumi, is too cutesy for this role. Her character was awkward, developed weakly, and furthermore her action scenes were choreographed poorly. These roles were meant to be played by actresses like Uma Thurman, who can pull off the tough-woman persona, rather than an exceptionally cute and tiny Japanese girl. In regards to the other characters, it seemed that right before a character was being developed, the character would die, resulting in poor character development overall. Characters such as Nachi were killed off when they could have been an interesting role in the movie. There also seemed to be too many antagonists in this film, many of which had very little screen time and seemed to be thrown in for an extra (poorly done) action scene or two.

Like many other Japanese action films, Azumi lacks true action, and instead uses blood, gore, and some CGI effects to create the illusion of action. In most scenes, Aya Ueto is only required to do some basic sword-slashing before her enemy would die in a burst of blood – Kill Bill style. It’s really not very realistic, and anyone hoping to see Aya Ueto perform some amazing swordplay will be disappointed.

The sound effects were the primary version that the action scenes worked somewhat. During fight scenes the sound of the blade coupled with the sound of blood rushing from a human body is the only thing that makes the action feel somewhat realistic. The music was also well composed and it fits well with this film.

Azumi is a movie that could only satisfy the action-desires of pubescent children, yet the gore and blood in this movie suggests that the film is for adults, meaning that there is no audience that this movie is appropriate for. Although the film is ambitious, trying to stuff in emotional characters and cool CGI-action, it fails in its delivery and can only be passed off as a mediocre title. That isn’t to say that no one will like this movie; fans of Aya Ueto or Kill Bill can expect a movie that is satisfying, but it is nowhere near the status of being a classic or great film.

Written by Lance