KaZenPhi This movie had a promising pedigree, a great cast and interesting if a bit obvious art direction yet I couldn't connect with anything happening on the screen. The point was obviously to mix cliches of eastern and western and present the whole melange in a unique look that could have worked in the hands of a better filmmaker or as an animated movie. I was on board for the first 5 minutes of the film. The prologue was very charming and made me curious for what was to come. Some may find the premise too ridiculous to believe but I'm perfectly fine with a fantasy setting writing its own rules. The main problem is that set design, however pleasing to the eye, does not make a movie and the movie doesn't deliver anything beyond that. There is no tension to the action scenes that lack weight and impact and I don't find any of the cast relatable or interesting. Dialogue is very artificial which is probably intentional, but it seems like the creators of bunraku were too focused on making the movie look stylish to notice that none of it means anything. What is oddly lacking in style for the most part is ironically the cinematography itself. The movie moves in very predictable and uninspired ways. Occasionally there are some shots that work as a comic book panel and/or look cool but do not necessarily work as a scene or connect to the rest of the movie. Film has a very specific language to it that is different from comics, videogames and the theatre. It is rather deceitful in many ways. You have to take your audience by the eye and guide it through your film. A picture says more than a thousand words and the pictures in Bunraku only tell me some very talented people didn't get their hard work presented in the most flattering way. Copying the aspects of other art forms and applying them to cinema as an experiment can be intriguing but you have to go all the way. If you get caught right in the middle of the road you fail. The fact that I even noticed the lacking cinematography should tell you something about how unengaged I was throughout the entire movie. If all you want to do is style over substance, fine. Not everything has to be deep, wordy and literal. Some of the most intriguing films, especially in animation, would work solely as visual experiences without dialogue of any kind. If you find language clumsy, be visceral. Hong Kong action has that down without any pretense of being art. If you do go for style only though, you really have to deliver.

bowmanblue I had no idea what this film would be like before I watched it - I saw it was sci-fi and watched it anyway. During the (most impressive) intro, I saw just about every Hollywood name I ever knew mentioned. It has quite an impressive cast.Set in an indeterminate timeless point in the future where all firearms have been outlawed and the gangs rule the streets, a couple of strangers decide to take them on. Nothing hugely original in the story; I think the cast signed on because of the way it was filmed. It looks amazing. Maximum points to the lighting guys and the set designers - at first I thought it reminded me of a living computer game, however, about half way through it, I changed my opinion to more like a graphic novel.All the cast seem to be enjoying being in an 'arty' flick, but just sort of mumble their lines. These (slightly over the top) dialogue sequences are intercut with a few fight scenes which are okay as they go, but nothing you haven't seen before.Yes, it all looks great - every scene is a visual treat on the eyes. There just isn't much more to it than that. I don't know what it was aiming for. Some scenes are downright comical (intendedly so I'm guessing?), others are way too up themselves and serious.It's probably a great film. I enjoyed it at first, but it got a little old a little too soon. Serious art-house sci-fi fans only. Perhaps the failings are on my part?http://thewrongtreemoviereviews.blogspot.co.uk/

lemon_magic I had never heard of "Bunraku" when it first came out in 2010...in fact, the first I knew of it was when I saw it priced for $5.00 in the DVD remaindered bin at my local Walmart in 2014. For that price, I was willing to take a chance and invest two hours to watch it.And it turned out OK.Since the actual "Bunraku" referenced by the title is, in fact, the institution of Japanese puppet/marionette theater, the thrust of the film's visuals and the fairly empty and two dimensional nature of the characters and the dialog (and the plot) make sense. "Bunraku" has an arresting and novel approach to its settings and is obviously meant as sheer spectacle and diversion...and not much more. If all you want out of your movie is pretty colors and flashes of motion and light...well, this is the movie for you.I'm not a big fan of Josh Hartnett, but he (and everyone else) does what the role requires of him - deadpan tough-guy schtick reminiscent of the old Spaghetti westerns. Hartnett does this as well as any modern actor, and he performs admirably here.It would have been nice if the plot had any surprises at all, or if the characters deviated in any way from the clichés we've all come to expect from action films, or even if the fight choreography had a little less style and a little more grit. But in the end, the freshness of the fantasy setting kept my interest.I would watch "Enter The Dragon" for the 200th time before I would queue up "Bunraku" again...but I might watch "Bunraku" AFTER the credits rolled on "Dragon".

KineticSeoul This is a video game style movie with a mix of cartoonish anime style going for it and a bit of Tarantino style narration. But it just wasn't as entertaining as I hoped it would be. If it was more crazy and had a bit more sex appeal it might have been better. I usually don't say that kinda stuff for films but for a movie like this it might have been better. The background and costume design seems like something off of "Dick Tracy" and "Who Framed Roger Rabbit". So yeah I wouldn't be surprised if the makers of this movie was influenced by anime like "Ninja Scroll" or "Afro Samurai" and video games like "No More Heroes". So the plot is basically this, the setting takes place where firearms are not allowed anymore. And gangs roam the streets but the top gang is the one that runs the whole show. But any other gangs can challenge the top gang. And than there comes the lone wolf cowboy dude with no guns who is played by Josh Hartnett and a swordless samurai named Yoshi(Gackt)that is trying to take down the top gang and defeat the leader of that gang. And has to fight the top gang and the top 10 killer of that gang ranked 1 through 10, 1 being the toughest and 10 being the weakest. And that is basically the whole story and than you have 2 side characters, one being the bartender played by Woody Harrelson and a courtesan played by Demi Moore who has almost no relevance to the story. Gackt got my attention when this movie was advertised, not because I am fond of him as a actor or like his music but I find it cool when a Asian actor plays a prominent role in Hollywood movies. And he was actually pretty good in this movie with the role he was given. The thing is watching this movie was like watching a play where the action isn't as cool as I thought it would be. This movie sort of reminded me of "The Warrior's Way" except I though "The Warrior's way" is a bit better. Overall this isn't a terrible movie and is actually entertaining to a degree. 2 Key scenes that stand out is when The Drifter goes to save Yoshi while beating up bad guys in a one shot deal in a complete old school video game style with old school video game sound effects. And the car chase scene that is very short but kinda cool to watch.5.8/10