A girl seeks the help of a samurai cursed with immortality to avenge the death of her family in Miike’s plot-heavy actioner that feels a tad sprawling and repetitive. 

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I didn’t get much out of Blade of the Immortal but if you need a dose of bloody samurai action, then there is little harm in trying Takashi Miike’s adaptation of a manga series that was serialised between 1993 and 2012. 

In the manga, Manji, a samurai cursed with immortality, is forced to kill a thousand evil men to become mortal again. 

While the death toll in Miike’s work isn’t that high, there are still scores of men being maimed in different ways.  We see severed limbs and bursts of blood, though Miike seems to have put the lid on extreme gore with this one. 

Manji (Takuya Kimura) here is summoned by a girl, Rin (Hana Sugisaki), whose family had been mercilessly killed by the arrogant leader of a mysterious new school of fighters. 

Vowing revenge, Rin and her newfound yojimbo (or bodyguard) find their path of vengeance riddled with an array of fighters with suspicious motives. 

“It’s easier when someone else decides life or death for you.”

Running for more than two hours, Blade of the Immortal could do with a sizable trim or two, its sprawling nature that sees it move from duel to duel becomes repetitive after a while. 

But Sugisaki and Kimura, both oddly compelling as a ‘mismatched duo’, carry the film forward even when its heavy plotting threatens to dullen things. 

While thematically and story-wise, there is little to suggest anything remotely rewarding, Miike’s film probably pleases the most when action is foregrounded. 

A blend of traditional samurai action with some surprising moments of ‘leaps’ and ‘flight’ that would feel more at home in a Chinese wuxia flick, Blade of the Immortal entertains with its movement and dynamism that contrasts its rather pedestrian storytelling. 

Go check out Miike’s earlier 13 Assassins (2010) for something more incisive and intense.

Grade: B-

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