Review of Zatoichi's Flashing Sword (1964) by Scubasteve Walter M — 09 Jan 2014

By far, the best from the series and my favorite! Here we can see the big heart of Ichi and his frightening fury to his enemies. Aside from that, make way for some laughs as he clowns around some more.

The story is simple enough, helping out those in need, just like in the past films. Ichi visits a woman he's in debt to with his life and helps her family of Yakuza in their disputes. And the movie lives up to its title, Ichi displays lots of sword tricks, even cutting a katana in half.

The scenes that I like best are at the ending. The Zatoichi series goes brutal on this one, shows a bloody massacre on-screen. And in the final fight, Ichi takes a different turn in fulfilling his revenge. The scenes are displayed in an eery kind of way, letting us feel the scary side of Ichi and what he can do with his sword. It's very well executed, by the end of the film, you feel frightened on what Ichi just did. Furthermore, the film also raises its bar, the cinematography became excellent. Lot's of amazing shots here and out.