Azumi

In the years after the wars a group of orphans is raised for a single purpose: to kill three warlords who would drag the country back into fighting. At the end of their training their master sets one final test, and that test is the hardest scene in the film. Azumi is among the survivors. Ryuhei Kitamura never hides that this comes from a manga. The movement is exaggerated, the blood is plentiful and physics is negotiable. One sequence rises above all that: the long stretch in which Azumi fights close to two hundred men, staged in a single space and cut as little as possible. Aya Ueto leads and her physical performance carries the film. Its flaws: the emotional line is thin, the villains are one dimensional, and at over two hours some sections repeat. Anyone who knows the manga will also find the story unfinished. Who it is for: fans of Japanese action and sword choreography. Who it is not for: viewers wanting realism and character depth.