Home
Home

Azumi (2003)

DVD Cover (AsiaVision)
Add to Collection
Sign up to add this to your collection
Add to Favorites
Sign up to add this to your favorites
Overall Rating 74%
Overall Rating
Ranked #3,962
...out of 20,319 movies
Check In? Sign up to check in!

Connections: Azumi

In war-torn Japan, the Tokugawa Shogun, desperate to restore peace to his people, orders the assassination of the hostile warlords. A beautiful young woman is raised from birth with nine other orphans, to become an assassin. Her name is AZUMI, the ultimate assassin. --IMDb
User Image
Review by Christopher
Added: March 15, 2005
Ten orphans were raised and trained as assassins by a shogun master to help restore peace in Japan. When the ten orphans grew old enough, Master Gessai decided it was time to begin the mission. There is three powerfully skilled warlords that want to take over Japan. With them killed, peace will be restored. For the final training stage, each person is asked to double up with their best friend. Then they are told to fight to the death. The last five standing will be the strongest in the group and will be able to complete the mission. After minutes of hesitation, the battle begins. The remaining five are Amagi, Hyuga, Ukiha, Nagara and Azumi.

As the assassins and the master make their first stop on the journey, Azumi finds herself speaking to one of the warlords they are suppose to kill. When she finds out, the other four rush in and take out his warriors, while Azumi takes care of the warlord. Words gets out to warlord Kiyomasa Kato, which is second on the list. When his men begin to remove him from their current location, they are attacked by the assassins. A huge battle starts and ends with the death of Kiyomasa. The only assassin to get injured is Amagi. A ninja managed to hit him in one of the forearms with a small blade.

For a gift, Master Gessai takes them to a village where a traveling performance is taking place. Hyuga gains a crush on one of the female traveling performers, Yae. Back at Kiyomasa's palace, he stands glaring at the look-alike the assassins killed. Now knowing what they look like, they hire some men of their own to go take care of them. Gessai managed to find out from the helpful ninja spy that is around at all times, but hardly ever seen. The three men Kiyomasa hired were on their way to the village when they ran into the group of performing travelers. Not being very smart, they thought they were the assassins and began killing them.

Three of the real assassins showed up, but only in time to save one of the performers, Yae. When returning to their master, they found Amagi dying from the blade wound. The ninja's they were facing are known to put poison on all of their weapons. Azumi is shocked when the master wants to leave behind Amagi. The master tries to kill him, but Azumi stops him. The master, Ukiha, and Nagara all leave to continue the journey. Amagi tells Azumi and Hyuga to leave without him. When they refuse, he slices his throat with one of his swords, killing himself. The two bury him, then Hyuga walks Yae to the road so she may leave for her town.

Yae tries to convince him to leave with her, but they are cut off by another man before he gets to answer. Kiyomasa once again hired another man to kill the assassins. This fellow was to be far more powerful than the last three men. He proved so by killing Hyuga with ease. When Azumi finds Yae crying over his dead body, she decides that she will live with her in her town and never kill again. Meanwhile, Master Gessai, Ukiha and Nagara go to Kiyomasa's palace to finish him off. But they are ambushed by thousands of men Kiyomasa paid off to protect him. With Azumi turning her back on fighting and the other three with no place to go, it seems as Japan's hope for having peace restored will never be.

Another comic book brought to the screen by Ryuhei Kitamura. Azumi (Aya Ueto) is obviously the main character and definitely is the best in the film. Had Aya Ueto not been casted, the character would have not been as well played. All of her expressions and movements were so perfect for each scene, she has a very bright future ahead of her. The rest of the cast also did a stellar job. Not a great deal of computer generated images were used, though there was decent amount. All of which blended nicely with reality. Nothing using CGI looked fake, but it was obvious parts where you could tell it was used.

Large quantities of blood was used in every fight scene, and it looked just amazing. One scene in particular was when Azumi killed these two guards that were arguing whose turn it is to go on break. All that's seen is there feet, then a nice amount of blood falls on the ground, then the body falls as the blood starts pouring from their mouths. There camera didn't move once and the picture was very crisp looking. There was so many scenes like that, just amazing. The blood placement on Azumi's face always looked like a thing of beauty. Even though it looks like it was just splattered on her face, it was obvious there was time taken to apply it.

When ever a main character would get killed, it never looked bad. When the first assassin got killed during the mission, Amagi, the poison started to take effect and turn his body really dark colors. He looked really bad, in a good way. One of the deaths from Azumi was when she sliced a mans throat all the way around with her sword. She was so quick, the guy didn't notice. He went to turn around and his body spun as is head stood still. Which eventually flew off as blood spewed every where. The only thing missing in this movie was terrible acting, boring action scenes and a bland story. Another excellent comic to film movie from Ryuhei Kitamura.

Final Conclusion: 10/10
Cryptorchild #1: Cryptorchild - added November 23, 2006 at 5:09pm
I just had the pleasure to watch this movie today. Ye gods, this movie simply amazed me. The fight scenes were epic. Everything about this movie was brillant. There wasn't much I could complain about in this one. Wow, what a great movie.
Christopher #2: Christopher - added November 29, 2006 at 12:29pm
It took almost two years from when I typed this review for one person to watch it. That's sad on so many levels.
Chad #3: Chad - added November 30, 2006 at 2:36am
Took ages for it to get a non-bootleg / import US release, it did.
Cryptorchild #4: Cryptorchild - added December 12, 2006 at 9:55pm
But....because the movie was so fucking awesome, it makes it alright. And yes MvMMDI, it did take a REALLY long time. And that is the sad part!
grain of sand #5: grain of sand - added November 4, 2007 at 3:41am
I thought this movie was kind of bland to be honest. I've never read or seen the comic so maybe I'm missing out on a little something, but I really didn't enjoy this too much.

most of the CGI looked like complete shit, and though the fight scenes were well choreographed and fun; the violence really annoyed me.. when I see someone in a brutal battle and a character cuts the other with a sword I would expect the shirt acquire a slash and a visible wound rather than a little blood pouring out your mouth and sorta seeping through your shirt.. but that's just me.
the story was fine, it was kinda slow but it held my attention.
4.5
Farley #6: Farley - added August 15, 2008 at 11:54am
Really enjoyed this movie. Fight scenes were put together nicely. Never read the comics, but I really enjoyed from what I saw here. Part 2 is pretty good too, but I would have to say this one is better.
Sign up to add your comment. Sign up to add your comment.
Recommended Movies
Azumi 2: Death Or Love Aragami Alive Sky High Versus Izo Hanzo The Razor: The Snare Hanzo The Razor: Who's Got The Gold? The Princess Blade Kibakichi Lady Snowblood Hanzo The Razor: Sword Of Justice Godzilla: Final Wars Kibakichi 2 Shogun Assassin Zatôichi Lady Snowblood 2: Love Song Of Vengeance Geisha Assassin
Layout, reviews and code © 2000-2024 | Privacy Policy
Contact: Join us on Facebook Follow us on Twitter Review Updates