Zat's NOT Ichi! I am a HUGE fan of the old Japanese samurai movie series about Zatoichi the Blind Swordsman, starring Shintaro Katsu. I was very interested to hear that Japanese "new wave" film maker Takeheshi Kitano had decided to revisit the character in his latest film. I checked the movie out today at my local gigaplex and came away with some very mixed feelings. Kitano blends comedy, action, drama and music all into one bizarre and not always tasty stew. There is more overt comedy here than usual, but the there is also much more brutality and bloodshed. The bloodletting in the action scenes has been enhanced, not always convincingly, by CGI effects. The original series was always very deliberately paced. Here the story is much more packed with various merging plot threads, and it moves at a lively clip. A definite plus, in my book. The biggest drawback is the character of Ichi himself. Shintaro Katsu always played Ichi as a gentle lovable soul who only resorted to violence when absolutely necessary. Here, Ichi is actually more like a vicious killer masquerading as a gentle soul. Also, Kitano plays Ichi as too old and doddering for my taste. And what was with all the "Stomp"-like musical bits scattered throughout? I thought they were just weird and out-of-place. Thanks for trying Kitano, but there will always only be one REAL Zatoichi!