Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		4.5
Overall		4.0

Blade of the Immortal Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman May 9, 2018

Tom Mes jokes in the early going of his commentary on this new Arrow release of Takashi Miike’s Blade of the Immortal that folks really shouldn’t believe PR hype, and that critics in particular shouldn’t parrot that hype without questioning it first. Mes mentions this in the context of the widely advertised “fact” that Blade of the Immortal was (supposedly) Miike 100th film, when (according to Mes, who should know) it decidedly wasn’t. Mes laughs as he documents a number of high-falutin' industry "rags" (if I may be so bold) like Variety and The Hollywood Reporter that echoed this supposed data point, clearly leaving the impression that Mes is a firm advocate of not believing everything you read. That "100th film" imprimatur at least gave this outing a marketing hook of sorts, though kind of interestingly, it didn’t seem to matter that much when it came to delivering actual box office receipts. Despite being based on a popular manga which itself had a previous anime adaptation (one that doesn’t seem to be available on Blu-ray, at least not yet), Blade of the Immortal didn’t seem to quite find an audience in theaters, a situation that might be rectified (and/or at least altered, depending on how you feel about the film) with this release, along with the recent Magnolia Blu-ray release in the United States (other regions are receiving their own releases as well, as can be discovered by setting the search parameters on this site to global). As kind of cheeky (scarred or otherwise) as this may sound, Blade of the Immortal kind of reminded me of another tale of a troubled enforcer helping a young girl on a quest for vengeance, namely True Grit , at least in some of its broader plot outlines. But there’s little humor here, even the typically extremely black comedy that Miike likes to exploit at times even as he’s documenting unseemly behaviors and (as is his wont) lots of carnage. Instead, while fairly relentlessly grim and at least occasionally hyperbolically violent, Blade of the Immortal actually presents Miike in a (relatively) restrained way, with the director offering some of his by now expected stylistic flourishes (as in the first twelve minutes of the film being in black and white), but perhaps without some of the continually disturbing content that has at times informed some of his other offerings.

You can almost feel Miike channeling his inner Akira Kurosawa in the opening several minutes of Blade of the Immortal, with lustrous black and white cinematography and framings that have characters looking directly at the camera, Rashomon style. And the opening of the film is in some ways the most “traditionally” samurai like, introducing Manji (Takuya Kimura), a ronin on the run after having slaughtered his master and several other acolytes. Unfortunately, one of his victims was the husband of his sister Machi (Hana Sugisaki), and Machi has reacted to that killing by withdrawing into an almost developmentally disabled childlike state. An opening skirmish (which isn’t really very well contextualized) establishes the fact that Manji is more than a bit handy with a katana, and the film segues to a rural setting where he and Machi are seeking refuge by a stream. Suddenly the appearance of a witch like being named Yaobikuni (Yôko Yamamoto) nudges Manji into “confessional” mode (where he relates the killing of Machi’s late husband), at which point Machi disappears across a bridge spanning the river. Manji chases after her, only to be confronted by a group of henchmen out to collect the bounty on Manji’s head, and they’ve taken Machi more or less prisoner as a bargaining chip. What happens next is both viscerally disturbing and extremely violent, but the upshot is there’s a virtually Hamlet sized array of corpses littering the screen, and it seems one of them will soon be Manji himself. A little supernatural help from Yaobikuni not only heals Manji of his seemingly mortal wounds, it makes him supposedly immortal until he can atone for the wrongs he has committed by taking out a slew of bad guys.

Fifty years later, Manji has taken several lickings but has kept on ticking (so to speak), and none other than fellow traveler Yaobikuni is lingering along the sidelines, leading to a young orphan named Rin Asano (Hana Sugisaki again) asking for Manji’s help as she seeks vengeance for the ruthless murder of her father at the hands of a group of desperadoes (hence that perhaps odd seeming reference to True Grit earlier). Much as with True Grit, in fact, the young girl and her putative protector soon take off on a cross country trek in a quest for revenge, with a serious of vignette like skirmishes ensuing.

There’s an almost elegiac tone underlying Blade of the Immortal, that is if you can get past the accruing body count. Some of the most effective moments of the film are not in fact the expectedly spectacular fight set pieces, but instead the emotional journey of Manji, trying to come to terms with both his past and his seemingly limitless future. Blade of the Immortal does perhaps overplay its attempts to tug at heartstrings with a completely needless moment of hysteria for Rin toward the end of the film, one which is predestined to end with an equally expected reveal, but up to that point Miike rather artfully manages to balance his penchant for graphic violence with a more subdued ambience.

Blade of the Immortal Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Blade of the Immortal is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Arrow Video with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.39:1. Arrow's insert booklet only contains the following fairly generic verbiage on the transfer: blockquote> Blade of the Immortal is presented in its original aspect ratio of 2.35:1 [sic] with 5.1 audio. The film was prepared in High Definition by Hanway Films and delivered to Arrow Films. The IMDb doesn't list much technical data for Blade of the Immortal, but I found this really interesting article and interview with cinematographer Nobuyasu Kita where he talks about using various Alexa products (there's a wealth of really interesting information in that article, and any cinematography geeks are encouraged to read it). This is another stylistic tour de force for Miike (and Kita, of course), with the gorgeous black and white prologue segueing into a more traditional color bulk of the film. The color sequences are sometimes slightly graded toward yellow, and overall there's a just slightly desaturated look at times that actually helps to evoke the historical period quite well. Even with a slightly blanched look, elements like Rin's crimson-purple kimono pop quite beautifully. Detail levels are often gruesomely high in close-ups (those not especially fond of seeing blades puncture skin are forewarned), and both the black and white and color sequences offer solid contrast. There are occasional slight deficits in shadow definition in a few dimly lit or nighttime scenes, but no compression anomalies intrude.

Blade of the Immortal Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Blade of the Immortal features a sporadically immersive DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track in the original Japanese. The opening sequence has some very impressive surround activity in the huge battle scene, something that's probably only topped by the even huger battle that caps the film. In between, things tend to kind of ping pong back and forth between quieter dialogue moments (which frequently offer ambient environmental sounds placed around the surround channels) and louder, more boisterous, fight scenes. The film has a rather beautifully rich sounding score by Koji Endo, and the music tends to fill the side and rear channels with regularity.

Blade of the Immortal Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Audio Commentary by Asian Film Expert Tom Mes. Mes jokes early on about potentially not having enough to say to cover Blade of the Immortal's rather long running time, but while there are a few pauses, he provides some great background information on Miike and the production.


• Takashi Miike on Blade of the Immortal (HD; 25:37) was shot at the 2017 London Film Festival and finds Miike recounting both the general history of the franchise (including its manga source) as well as the production itself.


• Manji vs. 100 (HD; 6:25) features behind the scenes footage of the film's opening sequence.


• Manji vs. 300 (HD; 11:57) does much the same service for the huge set piece that climaxes the film.


• Cast Interviews (HD; 1:25:10) also feature a ton of behind the scenes footage and include Takuya Kimura, Hana Sugisaki, Sota Fukushi, Hayato Ichihara, Erika Toda, Kazuki Kitamura, Chiaki Kuriyama, Shinnosuke Mitsushima and Ebizo Ichikawa.


• Stills Gallery (HD; 1:07)


• Theatrical Trailer (HD; 1:59)

As usual, Arrow has also provided a nicely appointed insert booklet.

Blade of the Immortal Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

It's always a risky gambit to outright recommend a Miike film to the general filmgoing public, but if you're a fan of this director, you'll probably enjoy this film, though I have to say it may not even satisfy some Miike fans who might want even more graphic violence than this film offers. This is an extremely stylish outing in any case, and it does manage to create two extremely memorable characters in the form of Manji and Rin. Arrow has provided a release with excellent technical merits and enjoyable supplements, and for Miike aficionados if for no one else, Blade of the Immortal comes Recommended.