After the fun-filled exploits of the last film, Azumi still travels with her last remaining childhood friend, Nagara through Tokugawa Japan trying to prevent civil war. After being ambushed by more troublemaking ninjas and barely escaping with a stunt that offers no explanation, they end up meeting with a lord, Tenkai-sama, who seeks them out for a mission against another ninja leader pushing for conflict: Masayuki Sanada, the man with a number of troops, guns, and a couple uniquely powered ninjas at his disposal.
And along the way, Azumi meets up with another rag-tag group of thieves, one of whom startles her because he looks exactly like her childhood best friend, Nachi. The one she was forced to kill, remember? Oh, and throw in Chiaki Kuriyama as Kozue, another ninja helping out the group and a nice little party gets going.
Tragically, viewers will be disappointed to find how vital Ryuhei Kitamura was to the success of the first film. While Kitamura is off making his own Godzilla flick, Shusuke Kaneko, veteran Godzilla director, takes the reins and woefully misunderstands the concept of a sequel by rehashing the same elements with less emotion, less style and less entertainment. Little in Azumi 2 resembles the gleeful, energetic pace of the first as Kaneko tamely captures inadequate swordfights performed by obviously unskilled actors and attempts to make up for it with an excess of spraying blood. Though Ueto lacks skill with a katana, Kitamura managed to completely fool viewers through flashy shooting and editing styles, but here, it appears that Azumi’s swordsmanship has severely regressed.
In between the fights, viewers will find there aren’t many pleasing plot twists or bonds formed with characters. One would figure that the Nachi look-alike, Ginkaku, would be milked for all the emotional worth possible, but no. They decide not to do anything. The characters in the first film managed to appeal to the simplest of emotions, but Azumi 2 fails to even achieve that in any way. The plot is poor as well with awful antagonists and a fairly straightforward path that lacks the appeal and intrigue of the assassination premise in the first. There are brainless bits of double-crossing and political maneuvering as filler as well because, of course, this is the reason audiences flock to the Azumi pics—action packed jidai-geki conversation.
This is all just such a shame when better was expected from Yoshiaki Kawajiri, the man who penned Ninja Scroll. He sets himself up for the opportunity to create several classy and crazy ninja villains like he flawlessly did before, yet he simply steals from himself, characterizing one villain exactly like the opening golem from Scroll (same weapon and all), finds himself unable to take advantage of a cruel and inexplicably magical female, and somehow writes a character that makes even Tak Sakaguchi annoying. It’s a travesty.
The script’s only saving grace is in the change of Azumi’s character. Ueto is able to show a warmer, more relaxed side that sharply contrasts the dead-serious assassin of the first. Fans of the original will be sorely disappointed and only Aya Ueto fans may find something worth watching in this sequel.
Reviewed by Tarun
