Zatoichi, the Fugitive is the fourth entry in the franchise and the second film to be shot in color. It's the second of three films released within the same year. The movie starts with Zatoichi being attacked by an inexperienced yakuza who wants to earn the bounty on Zatoichi's head. Zatoichi easily kills his opponent and wants to find out who wants to pay the reward for seeing him dead. The blind masseur travels to a nearby town where he confesses to the bounty hunter's mother that he killed her son. While the mother pardons Zatoichi, a group of samurai wants to avenge the bounty hunter's death. As if that weren't enough, Zatoichi also has to deal with the weak inheritor of a local yakuza who seeks Zatoichi's help but who is also pressured to kill Zatoichi by his peers to prove his strength. In addition to this, Zatoichi meets Otane again, a woman he carried passionate feelings for in the first two films. He realizes she is unhappily married to a quick-tempered ronin and decides to challenge him. Soon, Zatoichi has to face a group of vindictive samurai, a mean ronin and an untrustworthy inheritor all at once.

The main problem with this film is that the plot is at times tough to follow with its numerous characters. It's not always clear why and when the inheritor changes his mind and is Zatoichi's partner, just to become his opponent and to end up supporting him once again. The numerous yakuza bosses and their motives for wanting Zatoichi dead are also quite confusing. Even the return of Otane is somewhat strange as she seems to be torn between Zatoichi and her husband. In one scene, she almost romantically walks around with Zatoichi and opens up to him about how her life has changed for the worse and the next day she apparently tries to trick him in order to kill him and get the bounty on his head. The movie would have been much more enjoyable with less characters who have clearer objectives. This film's epic proportions made me feel lost at times.

On the positive side, the wild Japanese landscapes and colourful towns are still fascinating to watch and especially the abandoned house in the meadows where the final showdown happens is a gorgeous location. The final fight sequences are beautifully and cleverly choreographed. The entertaining last twenty minutes save the movie from being just average or worse.

In the end, Zatoichi, the Fugitive is the weakest film of the franchise so far but it's saved by a fast-paced closing twenty minutes and the charming use of traditional rural Japanese locations. Fans and followers of the franchise can give this film a try but occasional fans of Chanbara or samurai films can skip this entry without any regrets.

Chasing the Dragon is a gangster epic based upon real events that have inspired numerous similar movies in the past. It tells the rise and fall of Ho, an illegal immigrant to Hongkong who starts as a street fighter before his skills impress local police officer Lee Rock who gradually makes him a renowned boss of the underground. While his rise makes Ho a respected member of his community, he must fight ferocious opponents, loses many people around him and passionately hates the corrupt British police that is trying to control him.

Chasing the Dragon convinces with profound real-life characters played by some of Hongkong's greatest contemporary actors such as Andy Lau and Donnie Yen. The movie focuses on character developments and tense rivalry between crime syndicates and police forces instead of gratuitous action sequences. That being said, the film still includes a few quite tense and brutal gunfights and wild chases that are used in small doses and offer welcome breaks from the dramatic dialogues. The locations are particularly interesting, leading us from crowded and poor suburbs or cheap bars and casinos to lush mansions and exotic locations in Thailand. The camera work is precise and easy to follow. The jazzy soundtrack complements the settings accurately. It's also refreshing that the movie doesn't involve any distracting subplots such as love stories and rather focuses on the love-hate relationship between two men and their immediate collaborators.

Chasing the Dragon might not reinvent the gangster movie genre but it's among the best movies of its kind in recent memory. It's obvious that a lot of money, passion and thought was put into every single detail of this movie by the filmmakers, from the great set of casted actors over the realistic fight sequences to the choice of authentic locations. Fans of classic gangster movies such as The Godfather and the likes will certainly enjoy watching Chasing the Dragon.

Saving Mr. Wu is a suspenseful drama inspired by real events. It tells the story of a movie star named Wu who gets kidnapped by criminals pretending to be police officers. The kidnappers then force him to ask a friend to pay a ransom for him or else he would die after twenty-four hours. In order to survive and give another kidnapped man some hope, Wu uses his wits to get to know more about his kidnappers, put himself in their shoes and find a way out. Meanwhile, the police is tracking down the leader of the gang as time is about to run out.

The most interesting element about the movie are the conversations between Wu, the victim, and Zhang, the leader of the kidnappers. The two empathize with each other to a certain degree and develop a certain type of code of honor, based upon honesty and respect. The film also has a quite sinister atmosphere as it mostly takes place at night and in small rooms. An interesting sidenote is that the man who was actually kidnapped in real life has a supporting role in this movie which makes this movie quite authentic.

On the other side, the movie fails to truly stand out and leave a mark despite the interesting characters. The film sometimes loses itself in lengthy and repetitive conversations instead of adding some pace and urgency. The way the story is told doesn't help either since the movie starts with a sequence that actually takes place towards the middle of the film, therefore spoiling half of it and making the whole plot quite predictable.

To keep it short, Saving Mr. Wu isn't a bad movie and worth your attention if you like tense dramas with profound antagonists and protagonists. The story is too predictable though and the filmmaking sometimes tedious. Watching this movie once is an overall entertaining experience but it simply isn't memorable and I wouldn't recommend purchasing it.

Smuggler is a live action movie based upon a Japanese manga series by Manabe Shohei that stands out with an eclectic genre mixture and a fusion of extremes that is quite particular for Japanese cinema. 

The movie follows three main plots that complement one another. The most detailed one focuses on an indepted former young actor who accepts to work with a tough man that could be his father and a weird elder that could easily be his grandfather. They work for an organized crime syndicate and clean up crime scenes, dispose of the victims' bodies or transport prisoners from one place to another. The second story line revolves around two pitiless extravagant contract killers who get betrayed by a partner and end up being the hunted instead of the hunters. The third story line tells the story of a woman who is married to the boss of a Yakuza clan who decides to betray the family in order to become more powerful. The three story lines get intertwined rather quickly and the viewer follows them from three different perspectives.

Just like many other live action movies, Smuggler is a quite vivid genre mixture. It could be categorized as a coming-of-age drama as it follows a young man dealing with constant failure who desperately tries to hold on to his dreams. It's also an action film with slasher elements as the two contract killers are quite pitiless as they are working with both passion and precision. The torture scenes in the last third of the film are quite tough to watch, so don't watch this with your kids. Smuggler is also a black comedy, including many absurd scenes with strange situation comedy and weird dialogs, for example when the trio who is transporting the bodies of yet another massacre gets controled by the police. In a certain way, Smuggler is also a thriller as one tries to figure out who backstabs whom and especially who orders the different murders.

The movie has quite a few shifts in tone but its vivid weirdness actually keeps it together and reminds of Japanese V-Cinema of the nineties and early millennium. The protagonist is depicted as a naive loser, becomes a lowly estimated criminal meandering between cleverness and clumsiness and ends up being tortured and torturing in a very graphic way. This character development exemplifies this vivid movie perfectly.

Obviously, this type of cinema isn't for everyone but those familiar with Japanese cinema will definitely like smuggler. The story is so complex and rich that one could easily watch this movie on several occasions. It's an energizing ride that keeps getting better and better. It's difficult to give it a higher rating because the movie is all over the place but I enjoyed watching it and would definitely recommend it to those who like directors like Miike Takashi or even Quentin Tarantino.

New Tale of Zatoichi is the third entry in the franchise centered around the skilled blind swordsman with the strong moral compass. It's also the first movie of the franchise to be shot in color. However, it's also the weakest part of the franchise thus far but still an above average experience. Zatoichi is hunted down by the family of a yakuza he killed in the previous film when he is unexpectedly saved from trouble by his former master. He agrees to stay with his former master and his younger sister and also visits his solitary grandmother. What seems to be a joyous reunion soon turns sour when Zatoichi realizes how his master has changed for the worst. His former master tries to marry his sister to a man whom she doesn't love, kills unarmed people for unjustified reasons and cooperates with a ruthless gang of criminals by taking advantage of his pupils' rich parents. Zatoichi can't ignore the truth and ends up challenging his former master to a decisive duel.

The third installment of the Zatoichi franchise must be separated into two parts. The first half of the movie is quite pointless and could also be told in five minutes or less. We follow Zatoichi traveling across rural Japan and meeting former friends and foes. The movie plods along and is only average at best because of an imprecisely meandering plot. Up to that point, the film could be considered an at best average slice of life or road movie. Things however improve by a few notches when his former master's sister proposes to Zatoichi. From then on, the characters are developed in depth, philosophical topics such as dishonor and honor are discussed and the movie skillfully mixes beautiful fight choreography with a tragic love story. The second half of the film is the most emotional passage of the franchise as we witness Zatoichi's desperate quest for love, peace of mind and renaissance which he simply cannot find as he is constantly challenged, judged and haunted by the demons of his past.

In the end, despite being the least interesting part of the franchise thus far, New Tale of Zatoichi is still worth your attention because of an emotional second half that pardons for a plodding first half. The movie stands out with a sad, melancholy and gloomy touch and makes the viewer empathize with the haunted swordsman more than ever before. Fans of the franchise should definitely watch this film while occasional martial arts fans should rather try out the first installment, The Tale of Zatoichi.