How on earth did it take so long? The release of Versus six years ago made an instant cult star of Tak Sakaguchi and left fans clamoring for more from the charismatic anti-hero but more has been slow in coming. Despite a string of supporting roles and behind the scenes jobs with Versus director Ryuhei Kitamura in the intervening years Sakaguchi has appeared in only one lead role since - Battlefield Baseball, from Versus producer Yudai Yamaguchi - a situation that has finally changed with the wildly anachronistic fight film Death Trance.
Sakaguchi plays a nameless man, a wandering fighter, who assaults an ancient monastery to steal the legendary coffin that lays within. According to legend if you can open this coffin in the far away forbidden forest it will grant your deepest wishes. The legend, however, is incorrect. The coffin contains a banished goddess, a goddess of destruction and the opening of the coffin can lead only to the destruction of the world and it is up to the only surviving monk - a young, untrained acolyte - to stop the coffin from being opened with only a mystical sword that he is unable to use for assistance.
I still haven't heard if its violent or not :(
Errr ... you don't consider people pounding on each other violent? I say pretty clearly it's a fight film with martial arts sequences running from beginning to end. That's violence in my book.
But if you're wondering whether it has extreme gore a la Versus, then the answer is no. It doesn't really go there.
I am a bit worried if you consider VERSUS to be the superior film and yet state at the same time that the main trouble with
DEATH TRANCE is its script.
Nice one, Todd. I've been set to approach this one with kid gloves but that review right there has me a little more relaxed..the trailer didn't impress me but hopeful that it'll deliver the goods now.
I'm curious as to the run-time on this film. One of the key weaknesses of Versus (and Kitamura in general) is the lack of a good editor. His films feel flabby beyond comparison and run over 2 hours when they should be a crisp 90 minutes. Versus and Alive are the key ones I'm thinking of here. While I've fell out with Kitamura shortly after that. (I've got his Godzilla film lying around but haven't watched it yet.)
Yeah, I think he was the ninja who used the threads in his lng robes as a weapon.
awesome, i want to definetly check this one out. I liked Versus, and the fighthing in it was pretty cool. If this one as ninjas, and rocket launchers, its gotta be worked checking out.
I'd have to pop it back in the player to double check the exact run time, but it's much tighter than any of Kitamura's films.
Jasper, I consider Versus a bit better largely because of the sheer loony energy of it. This is a little bit more sedate. That said, you couldn't pay me to touch the extended cut of Versus. More Kitamura is seldom better.
And yes to Tak in Shinobi, Opus has got the right character. But that's a straight supporting role, and in my opinion pretty easily the best of the support ninjas.
My God, Ryuhei Kitamura is so bad at making movies it isn't even funny. I try to be a good Christian, because I've heard that hell consists of a giant screen showing Kitamura films constantly while your eyes are peeled open by fish hooks. Oh the humanity.
I'm glad someone else has finally seen this movie. I think you failed to mention just how damn funny this movie is. There are so many comic moments that truly make this film a gem.
This is a must own on DVD and if I had the chance to watch it again in the theater I would. The ending to this movie is so beautiful/sad that it really does make you want part 2 to come out ASAP.
Oh and Kentaro Seagal is now my new idol.
"My God, Ryuhei Kitamura is so bad at making movies it isn't even funny. I try to be a good Christian, because I've heard that hell consists of a giant screen showing Kitamura films constantly while your eyes are peeled open by fish hooks. Oh the humanity."
ROFL! Most of his movies are 'alright', but Azumi was indeed hell on earth. What a boring, useless, uninspired piece of that was. The fights were soooooooo repetetive (maybe due to the non talent of Ueto) and the animestyle turned live action was just silly. Now if they would've made that a giant comedy / selfparody, that would've been ok, but they seriously that that style would be good :P.
Death Trance is a movie I do want to see however. The fights look much better than Azumi and co, so we'll see...
Ryuhei Kitamura's films really seem to divide viewers! To me Versus is overrated... I loved the ideas, but it just became a parody of itself, just one fight scene after another that I couldn't take it seriously. I approached Azumi with some trepidation after that, but loved it... I think it's his strongest film to date. I also watched Sky High for the first time yesterday which is pretty decent - certainly preferred it to Versus.
I saw Death Trance last month... it's okay, if you liked Versus you should have fun with it, but again it does suffer from too many repetitive fight scenes in my opinion.
I've been doing my best to follow the recent gamut of over the top Japanese action movies, so I'm looking forward to this pretty enthusiastically. Forgot about Sky High, though. I may check it out although I've had mixed luck with Kitamura movies.
Todd, I was wondering if you've heard anything from your contacts at MB if this one's going to be released on time next week. I pre-ordered this along with Yaji and Kita (which was supposed to be out last week, but isn't yet), so I hope both ship at the same time.
I really liked Death Trace. I had been waiting to see it for awhile, because I saw the trailer so long ago. Granted there is a little bit of awkwardness at parts, but over all it is different, stylized, fun, and the makings of a truly awsome movie franchise, but most of all it has Tak!!! Enough said I recomened everyone to get there own oppion of the movie, because you might just miss out due to others opions. One last thing is there anyway to get a uncut version of the movie, because there are alot of scenes in the trailer that were not in the movie, and I hate watching cut movies. Thanks
it´s true that will be a Death Trande 2 ???
This is a fun film. It does suffer from simplistic dialog, but it does have some really cool characters. I do agree that the fight scenes are repetitive. I would have liked to have seen more blood and gore as well. I had no idea that Steven Seagal has a half Japanese son. I would have liked to see more martial arts from Kentaro's character.
Tak definitely has a screen presence, and he's a joy to watch on film. I loved the ending. Look forward to the sequel.
Versus was way too long, and it was great that this film to suffer from a lack of editing. It's probably not really fair comparing this to Versus, so I'll leave it at that.
P.S. To get off topic, a lot people seem to have a love hate relationship with Azumi. Personally, I loved it.
Great movie! amazing 'manga' true situations, and amazing costumes!
I also liked the cgi in this.
The only thing i didnt like was the motorcycle (though it was only 2 minutes in the movie)
Gottta love the angels falling from the sky at the ending!
........... I WANT PART 2 ASAP!!!
Trustme the ending makes you want part 2
'Devilish samurai vs. Goddess of war'
Kentaro Seagl web
http://geocities.com/charak1965/
when i was shoping for a movie i was looking around and this dvd is really good especialy when it came from the creatoer of "verses" really good movie i just hope there is a part 2 to "death trance"
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