Izo (2004) - Takashi Miike 

Well the question one may ask is can senseless violence alone be the basis of a movie? Izo proves that it can't. For a long two hours we see the title character, a barbarian/demon get transported to various times and places always screaming and always killing. It gets boring extremely quickly. We notice the change in times, and wonder what the point of it is. Believing this is a seriously dense and complex film, we soon discover however that it isn't. The film is simply a parade of violence in different settings.

Miike tries his best to keep the action somewhat interesting, and any possible way somebody can be killed with a sword occurs here. There are a few quiet passages, various musical interludes, and even a few silent film like passages. This isn't a senseless parade of violence like say an American movie with a thinly disguised plot might be. Instead this is senseless violence masked as an art film.

I don't think that the man playing Izo was a particularly good choice. He neither seemed menacing, barbaric, or charismatic enough to pull this off. He irritated me, and I was eagerly awaiting somebody to finally send his body to hell, and wound up continually disappointed.

The point of this film may be that violence is senseless, so what better way to show that then fill a film completely with random killings that have nothing to do with anything. I honestly don't think anyone cares what the point is. The film could have done a lot more with his character, and I still have no idea exactly why he just wanders around killing people, perhaps a backstory a little history could have helped. If it sounds like I'm bashing the film, it's because I am, this film is utterly pointless, and even the most passionate samurai fan will get bored out of his mind.