Ichi

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Ichi

R

2008

2h 0m

Action

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Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

78%

Tomatometer

9 Reviews

60%

Popcornmeter

500+ Ratings

A blind shamisen player battles yakuza and other villains with her exceptional sword skills.

Derek Malcolm

London Evening Standard

Fumihiko Sori's attempt to make an original addition to the Zatoichi martial arts franchise never reaches the virtuosity of Takeshi Kitano's original. Needless to say, the fight scenes are better than the dialogue.

Rated: 3/5

Jul 10, 2009

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David Jenkins

Time Out

With its hokey, flashback-heavy plotting, unadventurous camera use and a clutch of cloyingly earnest performances, it comes across like an irony-free, mid-season episode of 'Xena: Warrior Princess'.

Rated: 2/5

Jul 10, 2009

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Kevin Maher

Times (UK)

The villains are from the broad "har-de-har" school of banditry, the action is mostly fudged, and the resolution achingly obvious.

Rated: 2/5

Jul 10, 2009

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Felix Vasquez Jr.

Cinema Crazed

Haruka Ayase gives a very memorable performance and she's truly steals every scene she inhabits.

Aug 22, 2012

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Mark Pollard

Kung Fu Cinema

Rated: 3/5

Feb 4, 2010

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Catherine Bray

Film4

Ultimately a romp, albeit one with some entertaining quirks and a strange melancholy undertow, we shouldn't make overly high-falutin' claims for Ichi, but fans of balletic fight scenes should get a kick out of some good-looking sequences.

Rated: 3/5

Jul 10, 2009

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Liam D

Going for the Zatōichi 2003 remake tactic of being a Bloody Samurai movie and it's a hell a lot of fun

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

02/01/22

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Audience Member

It's strange to flip genders here only to saddle the new girl with not one but TWO useless sidekicks... It seems to go against the fundamentals of what made this character tick. And it was all a little too melancholy with the score and flashbacks. Overall though it was interesting to see a female in the role and the different dynamics she'd have to deal with, and there was some great action.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

01/06/19

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harri k

Ichi has many of the usual tropes and clichés of the genre but it succeeds in dodging the banal and the melodramatic. The blind katana hero is a rather minimalist main character, but she is likable enough and aptly supported by the timid swordsman Toma and the cute kid. Zatoichi's relation to the protagonist works well as background narrative. The film acknowledges the burden of violence and portrays the effects of violent events in people's lives, though it could go further in exploring the issue.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

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Audience Member

Somewhat entertaining although a bit inconsistent in tone and intent.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

01/29/23

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Audience Member

A competent, but not excellent retelling of the legend of the blind samurai, with a twist, it's a woman now.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

01/30/23

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Audience Member

Quirky traditional samurai film with some very practicable plot points.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

01/30/23

Full Review

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Fumihiko Sori

Director

Haruka Ayase

Ichi

Shido Nakamura

Banki

Yôsuke Kubozuka

Toraji Shirakawa

Takao Ohsawa

Toma Fujihira

Kazuma Chiba

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Synopsis

A blind shamisen player battles yakuza and other villains with her exceptional sword skills.

Director: Fumihiko Sori
Producer: Toshiaki Nakazawa
Screenwriter: Kan Shimozawa
Rating: R (Brief Sexuality|Bloody Violence)
Genre: Action
Original Language: Japanese
Release Date (Streaming): Jul 1, 2016
Runtime: 2h 0m

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