GamerTab That was an excellent one.

Exoticalot People are voting emotionally.

Softwing Most undeservingly overhyped movie of all time??

Philippa All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

mevmijaumau After the previous installment, which was the least formulaic so far, the franchise sadly takes another turn to the generic with Kazuo Mori's Zatoichi at Large. The truth is, this would be a pretty good movie if it was one of the earliest ones, but as #23 of the series, it comes across as a bland pastiche of all too familiar tropes and elements from the other films.Apparently, the Zatoichi films would rarely get shown again, so directors would get comfortable with re-using themes. This one begins with the same baby plot as Fight, Zatoichi, Fight (#8) but soon turns into another "town terrorized by gangsters" deal. The final boss here is played by Rentaro Mikuni (his second appearance in the series), but doesn't get to do much that others before him didn't already. An interesting thing about this film is that the first half is utterly goofy while the second is dead serious, but aside from that, this is typical Zatoichi stuff. Of course the mystery ronin appears too, but the battle between them is remarkably lazy, like the filmmakers just said: "yeah, let's get this over with already".The visuals are a bit above average, with a recurring color scheme of black and blue (there's a very pretty scene where Zatoichi converses with a lady in front of a sparkling creek). The intro song just lists off common Zatoichi situations, as if it's making fun of the repetitiveness of several motives of the series. Speaking of that, some ideas here were downright lifted from previous outings, like Zatoichi breastfeeding a baby (from #8), Zatoichi being mistaken for a murderer (from #22), getting trapped in a ring of fire (from #21) and fighting while on fire (from #8 again). I guess the only unique thing here is that he gets tortured by villains.Highlight of the film: a comic relief scene where an entertainer does a show with his monkey.

MartinHafer Like an earlier Zatoichi film, "Zatôichi kesshô-tabi", this one starts with a dying woman and a baby that Zatoichi is to take to its father. Following the death of the mother, the credits roll and a singer who perhaps is well-liked in Japan begins singing--and the high nasal voice was really, really annoying. Perhaps it's just my Western sensibilities, but the song was tough to take. I think the singing is from Japanese Noh (a type of play)--but I am far from knowledgeable about those sort of things.Once Ichi gets the baby to the proper town, he finds the child's aunt and gives it to her. Oddly, however, all along the route there a little boy has been following Zatoichi pelting him with rocks. When the father eventually comes to town and thanks the blind man for bringing the baby, the welcome is very short-lived. It seems that the brat who has been throwing stones at Zatoichi is the man's son--and he mistakenly thinks that Ichi killed his mother and stole her money (this WAS done but by a thief--not Ichi). However, when the father confronts Ichi, the blind man is not angry but agrees to help the family get the money--otherwise the aunt will be forced by the local boss into prostitution.This leads to the very, very typical confrontation with the local strongman--a guy who naturally at first has his men attack Ichi, then pretends to be friends and then, ultimately, has an all-out battle with the blind man. In the final battle, the death tally is appropriately high and there are no huge surprises. However, the local constable was an interesting character and did give the film a few surprises. Otherwise, it's all very typical and familiar. Nothing extraordinary but another formulaic Zatoichi film.

leesigmon Katsu's quick-draw swordsmanship is in olympic form as per usual in Zatoichi films. But I found an exceptional amount of humor in this installment, namely from the stalking orphan who continually nails Ichi in the gourd with rocks because he mistakenly believes Ichi murdered his mother. Ichi's tender-hearted nature is in full display as he suckles a newborn and refuses to duel the orphan's father knowing what the inevitable conclusion would be. Also, the preview of comedy acts that are performed for the magistrate to qualify for entry into the festival are hilarious, most notably the monkey routine. One of my faves in my favorite samurai flick series...

Tom (bighouseaz) This is the 23rd entry in the series and was filmed in 1972. The movie soundtrack sounds like something you would here in the American TV series Kojak. A haunting traditional Japanese song balances the mood out (thankfully).Yes, Katsu's Zatoichi has been around for two decades at this point. Many of the familiar elements are in this entry as well. Zatoichi tries to reunite a child with its parent, but is mistakenly believed to be the child's murderer. There are some funny characters in the form of the festival entertainers. That same idiotic (in a funny way) husband and wife team show up again. Zatoichi does a good job trying to turn himself in to the honorable constable, but doesn't have much better luck here than elsewhere in the film.The finale also feels new, in ways similar to the Lone Wolf and Cub series which made its debut the same year. There is a menacing bup, bup, bup, bup... bass sound as Zatoichi goes about cleaning up the town in his special way. Dissonant music adds a frightening edge to the bloody resolution of the film. The final dual introduces a twist to the ordinary. It's perhaps Zatoichi's kindest deed in the film.Zatoichi cult members (myself included) will find enough to enjoy in this film All others should watch on TV or rent before buying!