Ky-Fi

I had heard pretty good things about this recent Japanese movie---futuristic settings with a lot of outdoor swordplay, and nice imagery, so I picked up the new region 1 DVD as a blind buy. I did like the movie, but this is a pretty poor release from ADV. First of all, the packaging says the aspect ratio is 4:3---fortunately that's a labeling error, as the image is at least in the 1.85:1 ratio. But it's non-anamorphic, and it's quite a poor transfer. It's kind of pathetic that you can pick up things like MGM Midnight movies for $9.99 that have double features of beautiful, anamorphic prints of 40 year-old movies, and ADV can't even put out a respectable print of of a movie a couple of years old. Anyone have any inside info as to why they didn't make more of an effort on this one?

Mok

Thanks for the heads up, I was going to pick it up. I guess I will have to spend extra money and get the region 2 version I think it is anamorphic.

sicklerice

Whoever would say anything good about that film is a dirty liar.

What a piece of garbage. Terrible on every level. The pop-idol star doesnt even get naked.

There is no redeeming feature to this film. It's an urban dystopian sci-fi shot all in lousy outdoor rural farmfields and the producers uncle's abandoned gas station and doublewide.

And they stole the title of a decent Meiko Kaji exploitative chambara to boot.

They call it "Matrix like." But, the only thing matrix like is the viewers strong desire to take the red pill and wake up outta that bad dream of watching a boring film.

I give it a ZERO star.

dyerjp

the movie was ok, but with minimal swordplay, at all.

PixyJunket

But it's Japanese so it HAS to be good!

JasonF

My favorite part of the Princess Blade was the part with Billy Crystal and Carol Kane.

Kinyo

When I first saw this thread title I thought you meant Princess Bride and that you had just made a mistake.

Hendrik

...erm... different strokes 'n all that...

. . . . . .

Ky-Fi

I liked the movie fine---the fight choreography was not INCREDIBLY groundbreaking, but still very good, and I liked the odd setting and subtle sci-fi touches. It reminded me a bit of the first Mad Max, in that they showed a lot of restraint in their vision of "the future", as opposed to the more cartoonish stuff of Road Warrior and Thunderdome and a million other post-apolalyptic movies.

I just wish the DVD was of a better quality.

sicklerice

LOL. I was just agreeing with him that the film was "disappointing." If a person is looking for an exciting non american released sci-fi, RESURRECTION OF LITTLE MATCH GIRL would be a better pick (though it is a bit of a satiric parody.)

Shortly after I discovered how little I could stomach the film, I noticed in an Ebay auction that even the auctioneer said that he had not cared for the film!

As for ADV's release of it....I've come to expect poor quality from them. My expectations are usually met.....

indycohiba

Damn, I already bought and opened this, but have not watched it. I can't take it back now.

leemik

I just watched this movie (The ADV release). It's letterboxed at 1.85:1, non-anamorphic. The picture quality is not as bad as everyone makes it out to be. It's about average for a non-16x9 release. The packaging looks fairly attractive and there was an insert. I thought the english 5.1 soundtrack sounded better than the Japanese 2.0.. more atmosphere and dynamics in the english soundtrack BUT it's not the original language...

As for the movie? I don't think it deserves a "zero star" but it's biggest problem is that it moved rather slow in the middle. The movie was only 92 mins but it felt longer than that. The action sequences were good but it's nothing we haven't seen before and there actually wasn't that much action. The middle part of the movie seemed to focus on the relationship of Yuki and the guy which was boring... but the basic plot and premise of the whole movie was pretty good and Yuki was interesting.. I think it deserves a solid "C" in my book

--mike