Friday, January 21, 2005

Princess Blade

Obviously I found the premise of Princess Blade nigh on irresistible - sword-wielding girl assassin in post-apocalyptic setting (with promised trimmings of cyberpunk - and it's a Japanese film, of course) - but I'd probably have enjoyed it much more if I'd just stumbled across it by accident one night (a la Wizard of Darkness, which I still think is near-perfect on its own very particular terms), as opposed to actively seeking it out and anticipating it. It's not that I didn't enjoy the film - but, knowing in advance that it had all the right elements, I ended up finding it a bit by-the-numbers in the viewing. That said, I did enjoy watching it - liked the usual stylisation and melodrama, and also enjoyed the exaggerated artificiality of much of the cinematography...