'The Princess Blade' fights at furious pace

By Stephen Hunter
Washington Post

•	'The Princess Blade' R for violence and gore In Japanese, with English subtitles 95 minutes

Hmmm, if so, I suspect that poor soul will recognize his or her mistake when the Princess Yuki outmaneuvers the fleet of .45 caliber bullets launched her way, then closes in on the launcher and turns him to hash. Or, the movie being very Japanese, sushi. Same difference: lots of little bloody pieces.

The name of the film is "The Princess Blade," and it's about Yuki coming to terms with her womanhood, her mother's heritage, her own destiny and her killing about 37 guys, although maybe it was 34 — I couldn't tell if three of the guys in the forest were knocked unconscious or hashed to ribbons.

The movie is derived from a comic book, which also yielded an earlier film (called "Lady Snowblood"). The setting is a post-industrial Japan of the near future, in which civic authority has broken down, though it is beginning to reassert itself. Against this wasteland, the Takemikazuchi clan, descendants of the old emperor's bodyguards, survive as freelance assassins, and the chaos is so fervid that business is good.

But the more things change, the less they change, and aside from the guns and the cars, we could be in the Japan of the 1650s with its masterless Ronin looking for work. The Takemikazuchi still kill the same old way, with three feet of folded steel blade. Yuki, of its royal blood, is set to be its inheritor, although at present the clan is run by Takashi (Hideaki Ito). The further plot isn't worth explicating in detail, but it involves usurpation, murder, treachery, flight, revenge and a lot of swordplay.

Director Shinsuke Sato opts for minimalism. The blue-gray landscapes are simple and uncluttered (forests, marshes mostly), the special effects few and far between (a cityscape, a bullet train).

It's all story, character and dazzling martial arts violence, as orchestrated by fight choreographer Donnie Yen at breakneck speed.

And the cast, in its quiet, iconic way, is superb. Little Yumiko Shaku, who plays Yuki, seems like anime given flesh. She's got those hubcap eyes, deep, expressive, and that perfect pug nose. She's so adorable it hurts. But when she moves, Yen gives her astonishing stunts of athleticism and speed. Presumably wires are involved; either that or the Japanese have figured out how to defy physics and biology. Either way, she's something to see.