Shinobi: Heart Under Blade Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		3.0
Overall		4.0

Shinobi: Heart Under Blade Blu-ray Movie Review

Romeo and Juliet, dueling ninjas.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman June 30, 2011

Romeo and Juliet has provided ample inspiration for all sorts of adaptations through the centuries, projects as disparate as the Leonard Bernstein-Stephen Sondheim classic West Side Story to the not so classic Gnomeo and Juliet. Something about two lovers from warring families seems to touch an elemental aspect of the human soul, and Shakespeare’s immortal masterpiece isn’t just an evergreen in its original version, it’s spilled out into everything from ballet to anime, certainly one of the broadest multimedia swaths ever in terms of popular entertainment. Shinobi: Heart Under Blade, a 2005 live-action Japanese film which became an award winning sensation in its homeland, may not be one of the more rote and faithful adaptations of Romeo and Juliet, but it certainly contains a lot of the salient points of Shakespeare’s original, albeit with some important, and often riveting, twists. In this version placed in the feudal Japanese Sengoku period (roughly the 15th through the 17th century), Shinobi: Heart Under Blade deals with long warring clans of ninjas (also known as shinobi), most importantly the houses of Kouga and Iga, a sort of ancient Japanese Montague and Capulet. In this fictional world, the war between the clans is more or less officially sanctioned by the Shogun, though with some strict conditions. Iga member Oboro (Yukie Nakama) and Iga member Gennosuke (Joe Odagiri) meet in a sylvan glade and realize they’re meant for each other, even if their families’ tendency toward killing each other might get in the way of the nuptials. When the Shogun has a martial arts tournament where star members of each clan basically produce a draw, an all out battle is called for, with the ultimate victor becoming the Shogun’s heir. So much for rice and happy endings.

The Japanese soul seems uniquely wedded to nature, and the natural world provides Shinobi with a great deal of its inherent grace and beauty. When Gennosuke and Oboro meet in a gorgeous valley blessed by an abundant waterfall, the sounds and sights of nature are as much a part of the story as the burgeoning romance. Oboro dips her hand in a placid pool of water and the slow, steady sound of water rippling out from her fingers adds a poetic touch to the moment. Gennosuke sits transfixed next to the waterfall as an array of rushing liquid sounds surround him. This brilliant interpolation of the natural world into a mythic environment, one indeed redolent of a fairy tale, helps to set Shinobi on its rather artful course.

Both of the clans have distinctive fighting styles, and in fact each of the star fighters within each clan have their own specialties. Gennosuke, for example, can move as fast as lightning, while Oboro, like any good girlfriend, has a glare that can kill, only in this case literally. Once the plan of the Shogun is put into place, a plan which actually has an ulterior motive or two up its kimono sleeve, Gennosuke and Oboro haltingly attempt to keep the fragile peace, but ultimately give in to their destiny, agreeing, perhaps even willingly, to fight to the death for some imagined greater cause.

Shinobi: Heart Under Blade may never quite rise to the mythic heights of Crouching Dragon, Hidden Tiger, but it has something that even the most high-falutin’ Asian films often lack, namely a sense of fun. The opening “duel” between the clans before the Shogun is an awesome display of goofy fighting skills, whether that be a fighter who is able to fling webs of Spiderman-esque material to ensnare his enemies, or another combatant who, a la Superman, is able to leap tall buildings in a single bound. That somewhat ludicrous element could have seriously hindered a less artfully constructed film, but here it works perfectly as a contrast to the more heartfelt and sincere romantic element between Gennosuke and Oboro, as well as the impending tragic element as the two clans engage in a fight to the finish.

Director Ten Shimoyama does superb work throughout Shinobi: Heart Under Blade in giving both an epic, even mythic, scope to the film while concentrating on the more tender, intimate story of the starcrossed love affair between Gennosuke and Oboro. This is an often breathtakingly beautiful film with a definitely poetic approach that helps to imbue the proceedings with a certain degree of visual splendor that removes any feeling of watching something strictly generic. While it’s true that some of the CGI elements are not exceptionally well done, the good news is that these elements are artfully blended with the live action elements within the limited ambitions of the film’s CGI animators, and truth be told the CGI elements are rather minimal in any case, so any distraction they offer is extremely limited.

Shinobi: Heart Under Blade manages to be both charming and affecting, bolstered by excellent performances by both Odagari and Nakama. While the bulk of the film is deadly serious, there are some passingly goofy elements that provide at least a little comic relief, helping to make the film something other than a complete downer. The Romeo and Juliet story has certainly provided a wealth of inspiration to many artists in disparate genres through the years, but Shinbobi: Heart Under Blade certainly stands as one of the most interesting pieces to harken back to Shakespeare’s great tragedy while at the same time forging new territory on its own.

Shinobi: Heart Under Blade Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Shinobi: Heart Under Blade is presented on Blu-ray by anime label Funimation with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.37:1. The film is deliberately desaturated and strangely filtered quite a bit of time, meaning any individual scene may either look almost like it's in black and white, or, conversely, have tints of purple, green and other peculiar hues. Some of the filtering affects contrast and black levels, at times quite significantly, but it's obviously by choice and adds to the flavor of the film. While this aggressive use of filtering and desaturation may bother some, my opinion is that it actually adds to the slightly surreal, fantastic feel of the film. The image is decently sharp most of the time, though some establishing shots can be a bit soft. There is a fairly regular occurrence of some slight digital noise in some scenes, typically in skies and heavy foliage. Close ups fare best here, as well as brightly lit scenes, when the image finally pops with excellent definition and clarity. Some of the CGI elements may not pass muster with more persnickety videophiles, but overall this is a pleasing presentation despite some passing flaws.

Shinobi: Heart Under Blade Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Shinobi: Heart Under Blade is presented with two excellent lossless audio opions, the original Japanese in Dolby TrueHD 6.1, and an above average English dub in Dolby TrueHD 5.1. Truth be told, there's not a ton of difference between the 6.1 and 5.1 mixes, at least that I could determine, aside from the obvious language differences. All other things being more or less equal, I opted for the original language track, which was incredibly well rendered. This is a track bursting with surround activity, and better yet, it's often incredibly subtle. As noted above in the main body of the review, the opening scenes in the sylvan glade offer tantalizing dynamic range and directionality as Oboro lightly picks up a bit of water to drink in her hands while Gennosuke sits transfixed next to a raging waterfall. The battle scenes are as bombastic as you might imagine, with lots of great foley effects darting around the soundfield. Fidelity is excellent throughout the track, with brilliant clarity throughout all frequency ranges. Dialogue is also clear and precise, though it seems apparent at least some of it was post-looped.

Shinobi: Heart Under Blade Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• VFX Behind the Scenes (SD; 41:15) is an above average, in depth look at the crafting of the film's CGI elements. While Shinobi's special effects may seem not quite ready for prime time by Hollywood standards, this featurette shows that a great deal of care and craft was undertaken to meld them as artfully as possible with the live action elements.
• Storyboard Collection (SD; 38:15) features a number of scenes presented with split screens, showing final cuts playing side by side with storyboards.
• Director Storyboard Collection (SD; 3:09) features selected storyboard and final cut scenes.
• Weapons Introduction (SD; 8:52) is a quick overview of some of the weapons used in the film, including commentary by the film's props masters.
• Shinobi Art—Manjidani (SD; 8:47) shows setup and shooting on one of the film's impressive outdoor sets.
• Shinobi Action—Sumpu Castle Fight (SD; 4:41) focuses on one of the exciting set pieces early in the film.
• Trailers for Shinobi and other Funimation Releases

Shinobi: Heart Under Blade Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

I don't know if I'm willing to go quite so far as the "Masterpiece!" pull quote emblazoned across Shinobi: Heart Under Blade's Blu-ray cover, but this is an awfully interesting and entertaining film which works very well in terms of both its mythic character and its intimate love story. Often jaw droppingly beautiful, and filled with a number of interesting choices with regard to desaturated and filtered imagery, Shinobi is like a slightly violent fairy tale come to life. Dreamlike, sometimes surreal but anchored by two commanding performances by the stars, this is a film that may well appeal to couples for different reasons. Guys will probably love the action and historical aspects, while women will love the romance and four-hankie tragedy of it all. Highly recommended.