moviefreak

I know that many men enjoy watching action movies where at least ONE beautiful girl becomes the heroine. Well, this is such kind of movie. Even though it is “bloody” and “cruel” in some parts (and the heroine is too unbelievable to believe), but the point is that this movie is FUN and it has an interesting plot, great action, and beautiful settings. So for that reason I’ll give this movie a 7.4 stars out of 10.

The Story:

The setting is post-war Japan. In the beginning you’ll meet Gessai (Yoshio Harada), an old samurai, who has raised 10 orphans to be assassins. Gessai has promised Tekkai, a monk, that he would do it since Tekkai thinks that in order to stop the wars between powerful clans in Japan, they need to get rid of ambitious warlords. 

Azumi (Aya Ueto) is the only girl among the 10 orphans and she’s always been one of the strongest and quickest fighters of them all. Azumi has feelings for one of the guys named Nachi (Shun Oguri) and Nachi also likes Azumi. The 10 orphans grow up together, so they form such a strong bond with one another. 

After all the trainings are done, one day Gessai orders them to form a group of two and then he tells them to kill each other. Gessai says that to be a real assassin, you need to be able to disregard their feelings in order to kill the “enemy”, whoever the enemy is. Torn with mixed feelings, they do what Gessai told them to do. Thus in the end there are only 5 of them. And yes, Azumi manages to kill Nachi. 

With sorrowful hearts, now they must prepare themselves to carry on their mission: kill three warlords named Sanada Masayuki, Sanada Masayuki, and Asamo Nagamasa. Their task isn’t easy since each powerful warlord has plenty of samurais to protect them. 

Will they manage to kill all three warlords? Who will be killed along the five of them? Will Gessai stay alive?

Notes:

1. The “toughest” enemy they have to beat is such a ridiculous character that hubby and I kept on laughing at him.

2. Don’t expect this movie to look “realistic” in the action scenes, since Azumi can kill so many people without breaking a sweat, so expect this movie to be slightly manga-like or anime-like in some ways. 

3. One thing I REALLY LIKE about this movie is the battle inside Azumi’s heart. She’s torn between being just a simple girl versus being an assassin. She questions her chosen way of life, even though she thinks that by being an assassin, she’ll help create a peaceful nation as she has to get rid of all the bad warlords. I think this part of the movie is VERY realistic as every now and then we all questions the ways of life, right?

4. There’s a sequel of this movie, but I think this first sequel is MUCH better than the second one.

Here’s the trailer: