Bunraku [Blu-ray]

Revenge is an act of style--one that no Kill Bill fan should miss
This appears to be another take on genre-crossing in a genre-style movie. Previous examples include the wildly successful Sin City movies, popular western splices like The Good The Bad and The Weird and The Warrior's Way, and the stillborn Sucker Punch. But all these movies were well-advertised and wide theatrical releases (in Asia, at least, for The Good The Bad and The Weird). Should I approach this lack of advertising as a snake's rattle and keep my expectations low? When I stumbled across this I thought "This movie features Josh Hartnett, Demi Moore, Ron Perlman, Woody Harrelson and Kevin McKidd, and I had never heard of it or saw a trailer. How does that happen? Is this a weird little gem waiting to be discovered, or an utter Sucker Punch tragedy?"

The opening credits are cleverly presented during an animated story background. The style was much like that of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part One or Hellboy 2: The Golden Army. When moviemakers really...

Amazing!
Just your basic noir, German Expressionist, samurai comicbook-come-to-life kind of movie - but absolutely incredible. If there ever was a wall between live action and animated movies, it's gone now. Clever animated interludes separate each big sequence from the next, but the artwork stays on in the skies and backgrounds of the live action. Even the supposedly photographic sequences have been color-shifted and manipulated into brilliant hues and moody darks - eye-popping chromatics keep the viewer visually entertained to the end. Then, there are visual references to more classic films than I can hope to name, including an apparent reference to Dr. Strangelove on one motorcycle's license plate. But, if you're looking for action, wonderfully choreographed comedic fight scenes approach Jackie Chan's best.

Plot? Motivation? Characterization? Well, not so much, but let's not dwell on that. The visual spectacle makes this worthwhile.

-- wiredweird, reviewing the release...

A very entertaining, exciting and surprisingly good movie with a great cast. Fans of "Sin CIty" will love it. I liked it. I say
"Revenge is an act of style." When a man (Hartnett) bent on revenge come to a city he finds what he is looking for. He begins fighting his way through nine very different and very deadly assassins on his way to the one he want. This is another movie that really surprised me as to how good it was. Having never seen a preview or even really heard about it I had no idea what to expect. While the movie is not that original it takes from many different types of movies and blends them together in a very interesting and exciting way. Some aspects have been taken from "Scott Pilgrim vs The World", "Kill Bill" and "Sin City" just to name a few. This is more like "Sin City" then the others in the style that it uses and the "comic-booky" feel that it has. The fighting is great, and is refreshing to see an action movie that doesn't rely on guns to make it fun. The cast is great and the movie is very fun, very much worth your time. The only thing that bothered me is that it didn't need to be two...

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