Penguins, Eskimos, and Crossdressers OH MY!
It's Beck, with another movie review! As you all know, I am a huge Basilisk nut. Well, turns out that there was a movie called Shinobi:Heart Under Blade that was inspired by the same book that inspired Basilisk. Under the cut is my review of the film, (contains some spoilers)
I'm not overexaggerating when I say that I loved this movie so much that I laughed, cried, and shouted "holy shit!" all through it. Basically, the premise is the same as the Basilisk series: two young ninjas from opposing clans are in love with each other, and all that mushy stuff. Of course, the clans start fighting with each other and the lovers are turned against one another. In the end...well...let's just say there are a lot less than the 10 ninjas that the film started with.
The thing that I liked the most about the film was the dynamic martial arts action that was similar to House of Flying Daggers and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. It was so well choreographed, and the special effects were clean and not trashy looking.
As with the Basilisk anime, there are many unique and interesting characters, but I had to get used to some of their designs, (here they are in a wallpaper: http://dracotheferret.deviantart.com/#/dhdje9). Also, several characters from the anime, including a couple of my favorites, were missing. My favorite character, Nenki, still managed to be in the film however, although he was killed off quickly. Instead of his hairy manly-man design, he basically became Wolverine in an eskimo costume and apparently no grasp of the Japanese language. Another one of my favorites, Hyouma, also was in the film and also was killed off rather quickly. I thought his actor was brilliant, but his outfit looked like he was trying to crossdress as a nun. Perhaps the most disturbing thing in the film is Saemon. Basilisk Saemon appears as a very simple looking man with an almost permanent smile, but this guy looked like a deranged zombie in a penguin costume. I don't know if I was more afraid of him with his mask, or without. And I admit, I spent the first few minutes of the film laughing at Gennosuke's ridiculous hairstyle AND for as big of a douchebag as he is, and how much I absolutely hate him...I have to admit, Tenzen was pretty hot.
Overall on a scale of 1 to 10, I would rate this movie as a 9. It was brilliant and well made, but lacked a few things that I would have liked to have seen, namely characters.
I'm not overexaggerating when I say that I loved this movie so much that I laughed, cried, and shouted "holy shit!" all through it. Basically, the premise is the same as the Basilisk series: two young ninjas from opposing clans are in love with each other, and all that mushy stuff. Of course, the clans start fighting with each other and the lovers are turned against one another. In the end...well...let's just say there are a lot less than the 10 ninjas that the film started with.
The thing that I liked the most about the film was the dynamic martial arts action that was similar to House of Flying Daggers and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. It was so well choreographed, and the special effects were clean and not trashy looking.
As with the Basilisk anime, there are many unique and interesting characters, but I had to get used to some of their designs, (here they are in a wallpaper: http://dracotheferret.deviantart.com/#/dhdje9). Also, several characters from the anime, including a couple of my favorites, were missing. My favorite character, Nenki, still managed to be in the film however, although he was killed off quickly. Instead of his hairy manly-man design, he basically became Wolverine in an eskimo costume and apparently no grasp of the Japanese language. Another one of my favorites, Hyouma, also was in the film and also was killed off rather quickly. I thought his actor was brilliant, but his outfit looked like he was trying to crossdress as a nun. Perhaps the most disturbing thing in the film is Saemon. Basilisk Saemon appears as a very simple looking man with an almost permanent smile, but this guy looked like a deranged zombie in a penguin costume. I don't know if I was more afraid of him with his mask, or without. And I admit, I spent the first few minutes of the film laughing at Gennosuke's ridiculous hairstyle AND for as big of a douchebag as he is, and how much I absolutely hate him...I have to admit, Tenzen was pretty hot.
Overall on a scale of 1 to 10, I would rate this movie as a 9. It was brilliant and well made, but lacked a few things that I would have liked to have seen, namely characters.