Grade: A-
Synopsis: In medieval China, two champions: one Chinese, the other Japanese; compete in a duel held once every ten years.
Duel to the Death (Xian si jue) is awesome. If you’ve ever said to yourself “You know, this movie would be a lot better with some ninjas,” then this is the movie for you.
It’s got ninjas. Ninjas popping out of sand, ninjas popping out of water, ninjas flying on giant kites, ninjas bursting out of trees, exploding ninjas, disappearing ninjas, naked ninjas, you name it. It’s even got a gestalt ninja. That’s right; a ninja made of ninjas.
And supporting it all is a decent plot, great production values, and excellent cinematography. Really, in many ways Duel to the Death is like a great anime come to life and watching it, you’ll can’t help but be impressed at the creativity that went into it. By freeing themselves from any kind of conventional reality, the filmmakers were free to let their imaginations run wild and the results are simply a joy to watch.
Granted, the English dubbing is pretty bad at times, but I can’t really hold that against the movie.
Bottom Line: A great movie if you can accept that you’re watching a living cartoon. Recommended.
