Zatoichi's Flashing Sword poster & wallpaper
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Shintarô Katsu, Naoko Kubo, Ryutaro Gami, Ryutaro Gomi, Mayumi Nagisa ... see more see more... , Yutaka Nakamura , Tatsuo Endo , Takashi Etajima

The blind swordsman Zatoichi (Shintaro Katsu) goes up against an ambitious crime boss who isn't above kidnapping and murder. He must rescue a fireworks specialist who has been kidnapped for his expert... read more read more...ise with gunpowder as a weapon. This film tells us something of the origins of Zatoichi's training in martial arts, as a way of compensating for his blindness, and his preferred method of using darkness as a weapon against sighted opponents. ~ Bruce Eder, Rovi

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76% liked it

705 ratings

Unrated, 1 hr. 22 min.

Directed by: Kazuo Ikehiro

Release Date: July 11, 1964

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DVD Release Date: May 30, 1995

 

Stats: 31 reviews

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Flixster Reviews (31)

  • kiriyamakazou
    August 18, 2009
    kiriyamakazou
    Zatoichi's back and this time he's bringing along some of the most memorable moments from the series so far. Flashing Sword took it's time in drawing me in. This was probably because of the, mostly, comical beginning. Surprisingly the film has the darkest ending and a genuinely u... read morennerving final shot. Zatoichi really cuts loose, and the film seems to suggest he becomes some kind of demon of darkness. I wouldn't be surprised to find out that this is a favorite film of Park Chan-Wook, as it has many familiar scenes from his films. Most notably the underwater slicing scene and a single take fight sequence. Like Oldboy, the camera travels along parallel to the action (this time from above), with a seemingly endless swarm of attackers approaching the hero. This is a very memorable film for individual sequences, even if the story isn't as strong.
  • threefolddado
    June 25, 2008
    threefolddado
    Series is still going strong here.

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Critic Reviews

Brian Mckay
February 21, 2004
Brian Mckay, eFilmCritic.com

Despite the recycled formulas and that "more of the same" sense of familiarity, the series just keeps getting better Full Review

Emanuel Levy
June 30, 2005
Emanuel Levy, EmanuelLevy.Com

No review available.

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