Bunraku - 2011 – (Blu-Ray) Review
Posted: Friday, November 25, 2011
by MKDS
Storm Multi-Media Technologies Ltd
Director: Guy Moshe
Writer: Boaz Davidson (story), Guy Moshe (screenplay)
Cast Of Characters:
Josh Hartnett ... The Drifter
Woody Harrelson ... The Bartender
Ron Perlman ... Nicola
Kevin McKidd ... Killer No. 2
Demi Moore ... Alexandra
Shun Sugata ... Uncle
Emily Kaiho ... Momoko
Jordi Mollà ... Valentine
Mike Patton ... The Narrator (voice)
Shahar Sorek ... Killer No. 3 / Mirror Drifter
Fernando Chien ... Killer No. 4
Kofi Yiadom ... Killer No. 6
Aaron Toney ... Killer No. 7
Razvan Gheorghiu ... Killer No. 8
Plot: In a world with no guns, a mysterious drifter, a bartender and a young samurai plot revenge against a ruthless leader and his army of thugs, headed by nine diverse and deadly assassins.
Review: It has to be said that “Bunraku” is pretty impressive when it comes to the Martial Arts sequences, especially as someone such as Kevin McKidd (Trainspotting(Tommy), Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (Soap MacTavish), who is introduced as a super ass-kicking villain character known only as Killer No.2 during the opening ten minutes. On the way-side there is The Drifter (Josh Hartnett), who is introduced to the viewer slowly, but with good reason, too, as his conversations with The Bartender (Woody Harrelson) gradually fill in the storyline behind his character’s presence.
With a star studied cast that range from Ron Perlman, Demi Moore, Jordi Molla, to that of Gacht Camui, who is (without spoiling the film for the hundreds who are going to rush out and get it) the reason so many other characters travel to the city.
With an almost designated “Sin City” feel to it, accompanied with the infamous “Kill Bill” storyline, Bunraku is most probably one of the latest films that will appeal to any Die Hard fan, as well as those who utterly enjoyed the surreal fantasy film of late “Sucker Punch” and “Kick Ass”. Though this film may remain in a category of its own, for the reasons of an almost ‘stage-like’ theme, our own findings and the final rating for Bunraku will without a doubt be found justified and fair.
With plenty of action, Martial Arts, blood-splattering’s and mind violence to keep the avid viewer entertained for two whole hours, the storyline and end game plots will no doubt appeal to those that have found very few films without any of the above for a long time.
In addition to the films entertainment streak, it goes without saying that the best way to view this film is on Blu-Ray, too, with the “Unrated or Director’s Cut” addition to the full length feature. Exactly how the DVD and Blu-Ray formats differ, it is unknown, but judging by those previous releases that have ten minutes to a full half an hour of extended bits, it is believed that there may be an “Edited” version on the normal DVD.
DVD Archive Rating: 8/10
Release Date: 10th October 2010
Additional Info:
Runtime: 124 min
Budget: $25,000,000 (estimated)
Official Site: Bunraku
Country: USA
Language: English | Japanese
Release Date: 30 December 2011 (Spain) See more »
Also Known As: ??????? See more »
Filming Locations: MediaPro Studios, Bucharest, Romania.
Trivia
The title of the film is based on a 400-year-old form of Japanese puppet theatre, a style of storytelling that uses 4-foot-tall puppets with highly detailed heads, each operated by several puppeteers who blend into the background wearing black robes and hoods.
© Marcus De Storm/The DVD Archive 2011
This Article has been viewed 738 times. (Not updated in real-time.)
Top-level comments on this article: (1 total)You've written a good review, Marcus!Thank you very much, Jennifer for your Comment. Having between 80 and 120 new films per month to review on both DVD and Blu-Ray Disc, I try to give a fair and unbiased review of them all.
Writing for many Internet conduits, including IMDB (Internet Movie Data Base), Rotten Tomatoes and my very own DVD Archive Blog, it is sometimes rare that people leave a Comment on the actual Review itself.
Thank you again, and have a great weekend.
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