I happened to come across this film after watching Shogun's Samurai for the first time and re-watching Ninja Scroll. It made an interesting combination, with overlapping plots and characters. But I would have to rank this movie third out of the group.
This movie has pretty good action sequences, but it has very minimal character development and a rather weak plot. Unfortunately its over reliance on CGI really dulled the fight scenes, as someone pointed out, there were no real sword fights. There were definitely a lot of good characters in this film, and their unique powers were pretty cool, but they were rather wasted in the setting of the fight in the forest.
This movie would have been a lot better in an urban setting against the setting of a deeper plot. The shape shifter, the immortal, the poisoner, their powers could have been used to advance the plot instead of just providing another fight in the forest. It seems that the producers first came up with the fight sequences, and then crafted the plot around it.
Overall its pretty good eye candy, but when compared against similarly themed Japanese films, its weaknesses are rather glaring. Ninja Scroll is a far better film, both in terms of action and plot.
This movie has pretty good action sequences, but it has very minimal character development and a rather weak plot. Unfortunately its over reliance on CGI really dulled the fight scenes, as someone pointed out, there were no real sword fights. There were definitely a lot of good characters in this film, and their unique powers were pretty cool, but they were rather wasted in the setting of the fight in the forest.
This movie would have been a lot better in an urban setting against the setting of a deeper plot. The shape shifter, the immortal, the poisoner, their powers could have been used to advance the plot instead of just providing another fight in the forest. It seems that the producers first came up with the fight sequences, and then crafted the plot around it.
Overall its pretty good eye candy, but when compared against similarly themed Japanese films, its weaknesses are rather glaring. Ninja Scroll is a far better film, both in terms of action and plot.