Notable Cast: Shintaro Katsu, Jushiro Konoe, Miwa Takada,
Yukiji Asaoka, Mikiko Tsubouchi, Mie Nakao, Takao Ito, Midori Isomura, Eitaro
Ozawa, Asao Koike
“If you insist. I’ll just sit over here and take in the sights.” –Zatoichi
With a title like Zatoichi Challenged, one would
assume that this seventeenth entry into the franchise would pose a villain so
massively evil that even the charming and often good hearted Zatoichi would be
crippled at the idea of it. However, unlike the previous entry Zatoichi the
Outlaw, Challenged is a rather subdued and emotional film – less
focused on action and violence and more about the storytelling and characters.
The challenge of this one is not necessarily the obstacles that our hero has to
overcome, but the emotional impact of those obstacles. It makes for one of the
best films of the series.
While on the road, Zatoichi (Shintaro Katsu) finds a dying
woman in an inn with her young son. He swears to take the little boy to his
father in a nearby town. On his journey though, he uncovers some strange
happenings with the local boss and finds himself crossing paths with a strange
samurai who seems to be both friend and foe…
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| An unlikely team. |
While the last film Outlaw saw the franchise switch
up the formula a bit and boost the complexity of its story, this entry goes
back to the core of the series – much to some fans dismay. The results though,
particularly with having director Kenji Misumi return to the helm are rather
efficient and effective. The film bares a remarkable resemblance to the
director’s earlier film Fight, Zatoichi, Fight as our hero has to think
about the legacy he leaves as a caretaker and a role model, but Challenged
improves on many of those motifs. The relationship between Zatoichi and the boy
Ryota (who comes off as horrifically annoying – for a purpose) is heartfelt and
often humorous as each one figures out how it’s going to work. A scene where
Zatoichi gives Ryota’s drawing of his mother to the father is particularly
subtle, but wholly effective in its emotional beats, for example. It’s this
core element that makes it so effective throughout as a story narrative even
when the film starts threading in more traditional Zatoichi vs evil bosses plot
aspects.
From there though, Misumi has quite the handle on how the
narrative should flow between the character beats and the plot progressions.
Continued hints in the dialogue and story build a solid foundation for the
finale to rest on and the continued appearance of Jushiro Konoe as a mysterious
samurai builds perfectly towards the last time that their paths will meet. The
obvious clash at the end of the film starts off in a more generic tone as
Zatoichi finds himself at the hands of another group of baddies, but it’s the
final showdown of swords that really stands out as one of the better
action set pieces of the franchise. The last twenty minutes of snowy tension
are impressive as the edge-of-your-seat battle ensues.
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| The beauty of framing your shots. |
Zatoichi Challenged is often criticized for its
simplistic return to the basics and similar premise, but this allows Misumi to
work some magic with the script. The character work is heartfelt in its impact
(the final scene on the bridge is a tearjerker) and the action is top notch in
its execution – particularly in some of the subtle character beats that show up
in mid fight. Some might call it simple, but Challenged is efficient in
its story telling and subtle in its detailing. The results are surprisingly
forceful if one is looking for it.
Written By Matt Reifschneider
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