The Blind Swordsman: Zatoichi
Miramax Films | Release Date: July 23, 2004 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
75
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 33 Critic Reviews
Positive:
30
Mixed:
3
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
Chicago TribuneMichael Wilmington
A masterpiece of wry violence and stylized mayhem, The Blind Swordsman: Zatoichi turns loose one of Japan's most brilliant film auteurs, Takeshi Kitano, on one of its most enduring pop legends. Read full review
90
Dallas ObserverGregory Weinkauf
This roaring crowd-pleaser also boasts hilarious bits of business, insightful observations into the human condition, and geysers of kitschy computer-generated blood. Read full review
90
Washington PostStephen Hunter
The summer's most rousing action picture. Read full review
88
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
The kind of film I more and more find myself seeking out, a film that seems alive in the sense that it appears to have free will; if, in the middle of a revenge tragedy, it feels like adding a suite for hoes and percussion, it does. Read full review
88
Philadelphia InquirerCarrie Rickey
A boisterous and improbably entertaining action comedy. Read full review
88
Boston GlobeTy Burr
If there's a larger theme in Zatoichi, it's that nobody is quite who he or she seems. Read full review
88
Baltimore SunChris Kaltenbach
It's a top-notch action film, albeit on the bloody side, complete with decisive action, mysterious characters and a nobility and sense of purpose that allows its excesses to be forgiven. Read full review
80
Los Angeles TimesManohla Dargis
Kitano uses exaggerated acting, choreo-graphed violence and, most radically, the rhythms of everyday life -- farmers pounding the earth, the syncopated plop of falling rain -- to turn this genre story into a crypto-Kabuki play and one blissfully idiosyncratic diversion. Read full review
80
Washington PostDesson Thomson
Kitano the filmmaker makes sure that everything is beautiful, from the wonderful colors and passing tableaux to the intricate fighting choreography. This blind swordsman, you realize, has vision to spare. Read full review
80
Film ThreatChris Barsanti
As entertaining and surprising as the film is, however, nothing can prepare one for its rousing final fight scenes. Read full review
80
VarietyDavid Rooney
Over-plotted and at times incoherent but never dull, this is a stylishly designed, highly entertaining bloodbath full of offbeat comedy and inspired musical moments. Read full review
80
L.A. WeeklyWalter Chaw
Although Zatoichi may disappoint some Kitano purists, who might think it a vanity piece or submission to popular taste -- he's even begun moving his camera -- its pyrotechnics are still audacious and breathtaking. Read full review
80
The New York TimesDana Stevens
Like many musicals, The Blind Swordsman works better in individual scenes than as a whole. Mr. Kitano is not the most disciplined storyteller, and the plot meanders along tangents and stumbles into flashbacks, losing momentum for long stretches in the middle. Read full review
78
Austin ChronicleMarrit Ingman
Beneath its layers of epic detail, this Zatôichi is cinematic cotton candy. Read full review
75
New York PostV.A. Musetto
The tap-dance finale is a gem. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleCarla Meyer
Hyper-violent yet emotionally powerful. Read full review
75
Seattle Post-IntelligencerSean Axmaker
More reinvention than remake, this black-humored, blood-soaked adventure is a colorful if impersonal audience pleaser done up in a showy, fluid style with a tongue-in-cheek flair. Read full review
75
Portland OregonianMarc Mohan
What really separates Zatoichi from a run-of-the-mill action pic is the sense of humor -- and even more than that, the sense of fun -- that Kitano brings to it. Read full review
75
Miami HeraldRene Rodriguez
Because Kitano also wrote and directed the movie, Zatoichi also features all kinds of beguiling, if admittedly bizarre, subplots and forays into nonsequitur territory. Read full review
75
Rolling StonePeter Travers
Kitano is a riveting spectacle. So's the movie. Read full review
75
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Liam Lacey
It feels like one long non-sequitur -- like closing a Charles Bronson film with a disco medley -- but there's an emotional consistency to Kitano's boisterous celebration of movement. Read full review
75
Entertainment WeeklyOwen Gleiberman
The movie, quite simply, goes to sleep whenever Zatoichi isn't fighting. When he is, it's a pulp dazzler. Read full review
75
Christian Science MonitorDavid Sterritt
Stylishly directed and smartly acted, especially by the filmmaker-star, who gives one of his best performances as the unerring swordsman. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterMichael Rechtshaffen
Mixing all the liberal blood-letting with equal amounts of inspired comedy, Kitano puts a fresh face on the classic material without messing with its heart. Read full review
70
The A.V. ClubKeith Phipps
Like Ang Lee's "Hulk," it's a fusion of arthouse and multiplex instincts, and though it seems unlikely to satisfy anyone, it's just as unlikely that anyone who sees it will forget it soon. Read full review
70
Chicago ReaderJonathan Rosenbaum
Though the filmmaker has by now ridiculed the martial-arts drama virtually out of existence, the final dance number -- actually closer to festive stomping than tapping -- somehow manages to transcend irony, conveying instead only Kitano's childlike exhilaration, with a sense of ease regained. Read full review
70
NewsweekDavid Ansen
A mix-and-match crowd-pleaser that shouldn't add up, but delightfully does. Read full review
70
Village VoiceJ. Hoberman
A reasonably good Kurosawa pastiche. But overburdened with convoluted flashbacks and interpolated gags, and generally lacking a dynamic sense of cutting, the movie doesn't possess the master's sardonic brio. Read full review
63
Charlotte ObserverLawrence Toppman
I never did sort out the gangsters fighting for control of a 19th-century town, nor did I figure out exactly what happened to the main henchman. But I was rarely bored. Read full review
63
USA TodayClaudia Puig
This incarnation is funny, quirky and clever, with some mesmerizing action sequences. Read full review
60
TV Guide MagazineMaitland McDonagh
A bravura tap-dancing finale as exhilarating as it is bizarre. Read full review
50
New York Daily NewsJami Bernard
The best part of Zatoichi is its fine sense of rhythm, culminating in a galvanizing clog-dance finish. Read full review
50
SlateDavid Edelstein
What saves Zatoichi is that it ends -- for no clear reason -- with a foot-stomping ensemble dance number that is both delightful and unhinging: It sends you home with spasmodic giggles, convinced this Japanese imp has discovered a new path to your unconscious. Read full review
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