A landmark film in a helter-skelter career, Blade of the Immortal proves beyond any doubt that Miike is a master of action, mayhem and storytelling.

| Original Score: 4/5 | May 2, 2024

... Miike delivers flying limbs, spraying blood, and fields of corpses with flamboyant style and a mordant sense of humor.

| Mar 4, 2023

Take the fantasy elements out and Blade of the Immortal is a brilliantly effective throwback to the "chanbara" sword-fighting films of the 1960s.

| Original Score: 9/10 | Aug 31, 2021

The film's faults come down to the inconcise nature of its action choreography and overall editing.

| Original Score: 5/10 | Aug 2, 2021

It's all mad and marvellous.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Apr 29, 2021

Miike's direction is energetic and engaging, using a gliding camera to cover the action, long lenses to crowd the frame with warriors, and plenty of pauses to allow our heroes and villains a chance to pose.

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | Apr 19, 2021

Miike brings his own distinct sensibility to the limb-lopping mayhem. True, the film's episodic pace flags once or twice, but Miike usually drops in some wry humour to keep us engaged until the next bout of bloodletting.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Dec 20, 2020

Gleefully gory entertainment no Miike fan should miss!...

| Original Score: 4/5 | Sep 23, 2020

Blade of the Immortal is a beautiful film with fantastic sword fights and battles.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Apr 17, 2020

While it is stomach-churning in places, Blade of the Immortal is entertaining and delightfully insane.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Nov 12, 2019

A joyously sanguine time at the movies.

| Sep 1, 2019

Blade of the Immortal is a wildly entertaining entry from Takashi Miike that proves that he can put his stamp on terms such as "excess" and "overkill".

| Original Score: 4/5 | Jan 18, 2019

Though this film isn't Miike's best work, it's still a solid genre piece and highly recommended for fans of his work or samurai film connoisseurs.

| Original Score: 7/10 | Dec 14, 2018

Like most of Miike's middle-of-the-road films, the details in between the obligatory story-filler and the money-shot fight scenes are a treasure trove of weird, small moments that reward your attention.

| Original Score: 2.5 | Oct 31, 2018

A gruelling, blood-soaked and often darkly comic samurai epic with a huge body count, Blade of the Immortal is an outrageous delight.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Aug 25, 2018

By no means is Blade of the Immortal Miike's best film - he would be hard-pressed to top some of his earlier greats - but it is still a remarkable work from one of the most prolific directors today.

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | Jul 19, 2018

Miike coolly combines a lavish historical epic with a cheeky romp, undermining over-serious action machismo with vividly knotty characters.

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | Apr 24, 2018

Boasting stunning action sequences, along with gorgeous direction, cinematography, production design, and costumes, Blade of the Immortal is a thrilling samurai adventure that will delight fans of Miike's work, as well as fans of the genre in general.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Feb 21, 2018

I went in expecting a B-movie, and I saw a modern samurai epic (at 140 minutes).

| Feb 21, 2018

... 140 minutes have rarely added up to this much insanely wacked-out fun.

| Original Score: 5/5 | Feb 21, 2018