Zatoichi 16 The Outlaw DVD with (Unrated) +Movie Reviews

This is the review you been looking for!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Francisco Cortes | San Juan, Puerto Rico USA | 02/09/2005

(2 out of 5 stars)

"Here are the pros and conts:

Good:
* Great cinematography.
* Awesome moves by Zatoichi.
* Great acting.

Bad:
* The dvd trailer fool you by showing a horse battle, barrel battle, daylight forest battle and a bridge battle that didn't appear in the movie!!!!!!!!!!
* There were like 3 action scenes in the whole movie and the only one that was cool was the night forest battle.
* To much blah,blah,blah!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sometimes I think that the best Zatoichi movie is Zatoichi goes to the Festival of Fire!!!

P.S: If you like to see movies like this, I recommend to buy the original Zatoichi in 1962.

Adios!!"

A touching and heroic film. Shintaro Katsu does it again.

enslaved52 | BC Canada | 05/25/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The best entry I've seen so far in the Zatoichi series. The setting in these films seems so real and the stories touch the soul in a profound nature. I found myself tense throughout this entire movie, desperatley yearning for Zatoichi the blind masseur to distribute justice to those who wrong the innocent. The horrors that the villains commit become more and more unbearable and they really get under your skin. Zatoichi of course punishes the wrong doers in the end producing two very memorable fight scenes and leaving the viewer feeling completely fufilled. It should be noted that this episode contains a satisfying amount of blood and severed body parts, something the earlier entries in the series lacked. Great stuff."

#16: ZATOICHI THE TRUCE MAKER?

Ernest Jagger | Culver City, California | 09/02/2006

(3 out of 5 stars)

"This 16th episode of Zatoichi tends to have a more complicated plotline than usual. This may be due to the fact that there are quite a few complicated characters in this film. Farmers in the province that Ichi has wandered into have clashed with the local Yakuza bosses, who wish to see the farms fail in order to increase their revenues.

The champion of the farmers are led by two different groups. One is by benenvolent and caring boss who wants to see the farmers taken care of better, and the other is a sort of philospher-samurai who wants to start an agrarian cooperative of sorts. The Yakuza bosses want to see the farms fail, because it will help increase their gambling revenues. Sound a little complicated yet?

The acting in this episode is very good; however, it seems as if the director Satsuo Yamamoto was trying to put too much into this particular Zatoichi episode. Moreover, lost in this film is the noble qualities that we are used to with the Ichi character. I believe too much reliance on severed limbs, and lots of blood was the major problem with this episode. Yes, I am aware that Ichi lives in violent times and the nature of the swordsman sometimes requires the lopping off of a limb or two. But good writing always takes precedence to the violence.

However, the cinematography in the film is absolutely beautiful as usual: The stunning Japanese countryside is shown in all its splendor. I would not say this was the worst Zatoichi film. It could have been better; however, the storyline just didn't go anywhere with me. Recommended, but with caution."

Innocent blood on Zatoichi's sword

Zack Davisson | Seattle, WA, USA | 06/20/2009

(4 out of 5 stars)

""Zatoichi the Outlaw" is the sixteenth in the fantastic Zatoichi series. It is a little different in tone from previous entries, as it is the first installment co-produced by star Katsu Shintaro's production company, Katsu Productions, and also the first in the series released by Toho studios. (In truth the movie was filmed under the previous Daiei Studios before they went bankrupt, and was only released by Toho. This confusion gave me a little chuckle as the first image on the DVD is the Daiei logo, but the English subtitle reads "the Toho Company.")

More intrigue and altruism than action, "Zatoichi the Outlaw" (Japanese title "Zatoichi ryoyaburi" or "Zatoichi's Jailbreak") pits a group of peasants trying to create a utopian, agrarian culture (singing songs of "no drinking and no gambling, no fighting and whoring!") against a group of yakuza gangsters who want the peasants to fail in order to drive up the profits at their dens of vice. The peasants are supported by a honorable samurai lord who wants to see them succeed, and by Asagoro, a wandering samurai like Zatoichi who believes in their dream. Zatoichi takes sides, and with his flashing cane sword sets up Asagoro as the new village leader. Content with his actions, Zatoichi wanders off to his next adventure, but has reason to regret as he finds that Asagoro played him for a pawn, and all is not what it seems.

Directed by Yamamoto Satsuo (The Haunted Lantern), "Zatoichi the Outlaw" is far denser in storyline than previous entries, and lighter on action. Also, it represents a turning point in the level of violence and blood. When Zatoichi slices, limbs and heads come flying off, rather than just people falling over dead. When Katsu Productions took over, they upped the gore value on the series, as well as allowed Zatoichi to take advantage of some of the offers the ladies so often through his way. The character is still the lovable rogue from the previous fifteen films, but he becomes more of a rounded human being and less of a perfect hero. This Zatoichi makes mistakes, kills the wrong people, and has to set right wrongs of his own making.

Animeigo's release of "Zatoichi the Outlaw" is beautiful, as expected. That company really takes care of their films, and makes sure that nothing less than perfection carries their logo. Separate color-coding is sometimes used for the subtitles, which really helps when multiple characters speak at the same time. For extras the DVD nine pages of liner notes discussing the series and this particular episode, as well as translator notes explaining the title change! That level of detail is really appreciated. I always feel that with an Animeigo DVD you can actually study the movie as well as watch it.

"Zatoichi the Outlaw" is also included as part of the Zatoichi - The Blind Swordsman DVD Collector's Edition Box also released by Animeigo."

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	Zatoichi 16 - The Outlaw Actors: Shintarô Katsu, Rentarô Mikuni, Kô Nishimura, Yuko Hamada, Toshiyuki Hosokawa Director: Satsuo Yamamoto Genres: Action & Adventure, Indie & Art House, Drama, Anime & Manga, Animation UR 2004 1hr 36min ZATOICHI THE OUTLAW
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