I mean it. Watch it. The almond eyed actors and actresses combine oriental mythology with some action and it is entertaining enough. The chick from Kill Bill here still looking slender and attractive and there is Rin and Makie too who are thin, pretty and have feminine hair. All pluses...

I enjoy samurai film, especially the Zatoichi films. In most of these, the hero might kill 10, 20 or even 30 baddies in the course of the story...and you just accept this instead of thinking through the logical flaws. However tough it is to accept this invincible hero, this is nothing like "Blade of the Immortal"...where you see more than 30 people killed before the opening credits!! In total, I am guessing you see about 300 killed by the hero/anti-hero...and this doesn't count those killed by the baddies!! Because of this, it's basically a bloodbath from start to finish punctuated by a few scenes involving the plot.

As for the plot, the story begins 50 years earlier. Manji is a wanted man and you see him fight off about 30 of more baddies--with arms, legs and blood flying everywhere. But, Manji is mortally wounded despite his wiping out everyone. Then, a hooded woman arrives and announces he's cursed and inserts holy blood worms into his wound...and they keep him alive despite his injuries. In fact, the limb he's lost rejoins the body!!

Now the story jumps ahead 50 years. A group of evil baddies are wiping out dojos of swordsmen throughout Edo (modern Tokyo). In the process, Rin's father is butchered in front of her and her mother raped...and this girl is now an orphan. She is told about Manji by this same hooded woman...and she seeks him out to be her protector AND instrument of revenge. What follows is the bloodbath as Manji hacks his way through not only this group of baddies...but government baddies as well.

Overall, it's moderately enjoyable but because the gore and violence was so nonstop, it all made me feel a bit numb to it all. I would have preferred a tad more story and a tad less emphasis on one boss battle after another.

A long time ago, my introduction to Miike didn't quite work for me. My first experiences with his movies were weird and not satisfying to say the least. But that happens sometimes when you see something you are not used too. This is his 100th (!!!!) movie, yes you read that right, and he already had his 101 played at some festival in the summer, so who knows how many he has done in the meantime.

But with this one, he kind of stays in a classic story line. You still get a bit of crazy, but it's pretty straightforward. So the story of Swordsman who finds himself in more than a bind due to his "life"-circumstances (a curse of sorts),is bitter, until a woman comes and asks him for help. We do know where this is going, but it still is filled with colorful characters, some very nice action scenes and a general sense of having fun while watching it all unfold! Predictable it may be, but that does not take anything away from the movie in the end