Load of rubbish!!

Gripping story with well-crafted characters

The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

You really have to watch Azumi 1 as this is a continuation and No.1 sets the groundwork. I enjoyed watching this, it is important that you allow yourself to get into the film and focus otherwise it will just go over your head and you will become detached. You notice every so often that there seems to be some lack in budget. However this is overcome by the storyline and the quality of the acting. Some villains remain from Azumi 1, especially Lord Kato protector. These allow you to have a stronger connection to the film & allow you to become more involved; ultimately enhancing viewing performance. 7.6/10 for me. Thats just about on the high fair side. Could of been more with higher budget. But i more than appreciate how it is currently. Azumi definitely somehow grows on you and you always know she will come through her battle's no matter how hard the opponent. Her mission seems to be one of good, therefore you support it. One thing that was always going through my head from Azumi 1 was the reference made by a character to Azumi & speed over power. In same light looking at Azumi's figure she seems flimsy yet she wields so much impact. I also always like after she kill's someone the stance after, it is delayed then blood starts gushing out. They think they were never caught yet realise the blade has penetrated her skin. She has some sort of back blade as well which comes in very hand and she uses in devastating effect. The mix of enemies work well. But in Azumi 2 it becomes even more prominent the desire to complete the mission. That is what they live for and without it they are somewhat lost. Being compelled to carry out your duty. This somehwhat leads me to think about 'Bushido', and in parts of the film i was thinking about 'The Last samurai '. Anyway enjoy Azumi 1 and 2 but if you fall asleep it is more than difficult to get back into it. This probably because there are so many details to remember , culminating in the conclusion that the storyline has strength.

Azumi was one of the best in recent samurai movies in the last few years. This sequel, while not hitting the high points of that movie, is still a good follow-up. As Azumi and Nagara continue their hunt for the last lord, they meet up with a group of bandits, one of whom looks very familiar.....The original had a plot that was more simple and straight forwards. Here there is actually more going on, and as a result, with a number of new characters introduced sometimes Azumi and Nagara are lost in the mix.Having said that however, the action, while not quite as good as in the first movie, is still very impressive. But what has also been added is a bit more of an emotional, even love story with the character of Ginkaku. Loking exactly like Nachi (someone Azumi liked, possibly loved and had to kill in the first movie), it gives Azumi a possible chance of love, but as is always the case in movies like this, things never go to plan.As in the first movie, Aya Ueto gives a strong performance in the lead role. The rest of the cast are just as good too. Shusuke Kaneko taking over the direction handles it well.It may not be as action packed as the first, but it is a very worthy sequel.

I'm a huge fan of the first one and as much as i hate agreeing with some of the comments, well I do. This isn't even close to the first, simply because kitamura's touch was missing badly. The unique sense of camera angles, sword fights, wire work etc... There's still plenty of violence and blood but not quite as impressive and breathtaking as the first. I hoped for kitamura's direction as it really would have been more intense than the first but not everything goes our way. Still the acting was good and the scene with a copy of the ninja scroll sword boomerang was pretty cool I must say.Nevertheless I still love this simply because I love the franchise of this type of samurai flick and once again the cute aya ueto's presence once more. Recommended to all action and samurai fans out there. 10/10 simply because it's still a great movie with ueto in it...

You like beautiful girls? Yeah me too. What is there bad to say about beautiful girls/women? Nothing imo, so why would I give this movie only 2 stars out of 5, although it got the "talents" of Chiaki Kuriyama and Aya Ueto? If I really wanted to watch beautiful people, I'd watch MTV or something that's why. This is a movie, a so called action movie nevertheless. So by definition it does not even really need a plot right? I'm not agreeing 100%, but let's say yes to that. So what does it need? 20 minutes footage from part 1 (I might be exaggerating a little bit, but it felt like more than 20 minutes ...)?! That would be "No". But then again you never know, the people who watched part one might not know what they ate this morning for breakfast, so hey let's remind them ... hey maybe remind them even twice? Just to be sure they won't forget ... at least until the credits roll, of course!!!! So forget about the story, about character development, about real emotions, about the "acting" (and no, I don't think women in skirts walking and/or fighting is accountable for acting!) ... what does that leave? Yes the action scenes. The action scenes are not bad and that's the reason I gave the movie 2 stars instead of 1! I was giving this movie a chance, but it was a waste of time ... You have better things to do/watch, believe me ...