This Movie Can Only Be Described With One Word.

Most undeservingly overhyped movie of all time??

Good movie but grossly overrated

Best movie of this year hands down!

Here's a bizarre and frequently outrageous Japanese thriller about a Samurai cop named Hanzo. Now, I'm sure you've all seen on-the-edge cops before along the line of Mel Gibson in the LETHAL WEAPON series, but Hanzo's madness is unlike anything I've ever seen before. The unconventional officer practices self-mutilation in one painful scene by kneeling on a bed of spikes while concrete blocks are lowered on to his bent legs, shown in graphic detail as the blood spurts from the wounds. Apparently it's so he can better understand the torture methods he sometimes practices on criminals.The episodic plot may seem predictable but adds philosophy, characterisation, and strong themes of sex and death to the brew to keep things interesting. The film seems to have been made to deliberately shock the audience, like in one scene where Hanzo "helps" a terminally ill man by hanging him from the roof! Also, a strong undercurrent of sex runs throughout the film which may be offensive to some, although the comedic aspects of the tale are so strong (although unspoken) that it's hard to become to offended by the scenes. For instance, sequences show Hanzo "strengthening" his penis by beating it with a wooden bat and later using it as a method to "interrogate" his female suspects in scenes you definitely wouldn't see anywhere in a Western movie. Shocking and sexist, yes, but that's Japanese culture for you.Along with all the sex the film has to offer, the violence is irregular but explicit. Hanzo breaks the nose of one informant, causing blood to spray everywhere, and in the film's gruesome highlight his house is put to siege by a group of trained killers whom he proceeds to kill in various blood-spurting ways (my favourite moment: two killers approach down a corridor, until spikes suddenly fly out of the walls to repeatedly impale them). Shintarô Katsu's acting in the lead role is compelling as he makes the character his own, so that it's difficult to distinguish between the actor and his creation. The film is complemented by a funky score and lots of arty dream-like shots to add to the mystery and weird nature of the film. An unusual but engrossing film.

No pun intended with my summary line. I actually did expect something along the lines of "Zatoichi" when I watched this at a local cinema, as part of Retrospective. Well I was in for a treat (and if you have seen the movie, you do know what I'm talking about), because it is anything but that.I like Zatoichi-style action, don't get me wrong and there is quite a bit of action on display here. But mainly the "sword of justice" might be something else than you'd expect. Unless you know what you are getting into that is. Speaking of "getting into" ... well better not, I don not want to get to graphic here. The movie is doing more than a good job, so I leave it to the film to blow your mind (if you can get your head around the idea and weirdness of it all, that is). The ending did seem a bit rushed though ... but I guess that happened for a reason.

Misumi seems ill-at-ease doing a kind of extremely cartoonish and lurid sexploitation film where the emphasis is on Hanzo's 'interrogating' techniques (read forced sex which the victims end up enjoying so much they spill everything he needs to know as a constable - how's that for PC?) rather than anything resembling a samurai movie. That's probably why it verges on the incomprehensible and the experimentations with style and form are as disjointed as the silly script against which they're supposed to work as diversions. In one of the greatest strokes of irony in Japanese cinema, where Misumi failed, Yasuzo Masumura (a director know for more art-house fare) succeeded beyond all expectations in the second entry of the Hanzo series, basically by doing what Misumi opted to avoid: a serioud dark movie. The kind of film Misumi made a career out of.

Dirtier than Harry, shaftier than Shaft, at least that's what the box claims. Hanzo (the great Shintarô Katsu) is a renegade samurai officer (from hell!) in feudal Japan, dealing with crimes in his own unique way. Not only does he use a variety of bladed weapons with razor skill, he has a mammoth dork; the long arm of the law, if you get what I'm saying. For example, he forces himself on any woman that may have information until they beg him not to stop, willingly spilling all their secrets in the process. One woman (actually, he uses this technique in all three movies) he puts in a net on a pulley and his men raise and lower it onto him…then Hanzo spins it to the left and right! Anyway, I think you get the idea! The combat is bloody but only average in quality when compared to the Zatoichi or Lone Wolf series. The plots are pretty much what you'd expect; corrupt officers, officials, and thieves all commit interweaving crimes that Hanzo refuses to turn his back to. All three have some parts that drag but with the un-PC humor, gory violence, funky 70's style and music, and jaw-dropping content, Hanzo the Razor is quite a curious and amusing trilogy. I believe The Snare was my favorite, closely followed by Sword of Justice.