This is by no means a masterpiece, but it's a cool fantasy/action flick with beautiful and cool scenery, interesting characters and cool fight scenes! It has flaws, but if you go in with an open mind and don't expect too much you shall be entertained!

On the cusp of this deceptively simple film is a near universal acknowledgement of style over substance. It's even in the name Bunraku which is a form of traditional Japanese puppeteer-ing. The opening credits of the film plods with nonsensical narration brought by a cynical voice and colorful puppetry mixed with economical computer graphics. We're submerged into a world of paper mache, all the world is a stage and all the players almost seem to notice. With a wink and a nod they dance around each other; a cowboy, a samurai, a woodcutter, an assassin, a barkeep and a maiden. All the world is a stage and pulling the strings are the dexterous hands and wide eyes of a teenage boy. Deceptively simple because it is an indulgence similar to youth's long hours with toys at the foot of the bed or after midnight's Kung Fu marathons.Yet there's more than meets the eye here. The script's sometimes frustratingly scant dialogue circles around the notion of violence. Its not one of those films that admonishes violence while inviting the audience to enjoy stylized buckets of blood. It's a film that tries to posit violence as part of the cyclical machinations of the universe. What matters is how you use violence; towards selfish ends or selfless ends. Our heroes, the drifter and the samurai fight for good, in a sense. Their families were effected by the woodcutter and his gang, thus they battle to reclaim their family honor. A simple story of revenge told hundreds of times across multiple cultures and mediums. Even the characters in the plot are aware of their place in the larger story. The barkeep, played by an affable Woody Harrelson even props up a pop-up book telling a similar heroic tale. The tale he tells though the names are changed is that of Spider-Man; confirmed by the moral of the story "with great power comes great responsibility."The story goes deeper into the depths of political and moral philosophy with the inclusion of a character known as The General. His Proletariat League remains in the periphery until the third act. The character is treated as a phantom which prods the Woodcutters gang to remove his iconography. Then he appears a withered old man reminiscent of an aging Fidel Castro. He's waited, perhaps too long, to strike against the woodcutter and his gang which control the city. Does he, by the end of the film replace a politically violent reign with another? Maybe, but the movie strongly adheres to the cyclical nature of human politics. When Harrelson's character insists he makes the drinks and fought only so he could continue to make the drinks, our two heroes seems disappointed. As if to say when good men do nothing, evil prevails. The movie then ends with a Rising Sun Flag doubling as the sun itself. Fascism and cruelty still lurks in the shadows or in this case, the light.Yet the draw of a movie of this kind is not a flaccid political statement or a hero's journey we all can recite by heart. Most films, with noted exceptions are like Christmas trees, its not the structure but the decorations that set them apart. And there are a lot of decorations. Bunraku is nearly an entire product of pastiche. The city home to our players is constructed to look cheap as if made on a sound stage, as it likely was. The walls are paper thin, dominated by harsh masculine edges and aside from beer bottles and bifocals, there is no glass in the windows. The unnatural light shifts suddenly from blue to red and orange to create an atmosphere of dread, anger and fear depending on the situation. Its as if The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920) was remade into a gangster movie. The vibrant costumes take hints from Bollywood, the scene transitions are pop art, the characters an amalgam of ronins, cowboys and grizzled private dicks; east meets west meets points in between.Make no mistake, this movie is a masterpiece and not in an ironic sense either. Frazzled and rough around the edges to be sure, but nonetheless Bunraku reveals a masterful depth. It follows in a cinematic tradition while bringing a rare gust of originality that can make you question how to truly make and interpret a lie that tells the truth. All the worlds a stage and in this case, I'd get a front row seat right quick.

Every one has their own opinions, but I to disagree with the bad reviews. This was an interesting, good pace, wonderfully styled movie. .it had action that was no too over the top, it was colorful, fun, odd, but not boring. It kept my attention, it was a good story, nothing bad to say. Woody Harrelson played his role as the layer back bar keep. The two fighters, The Man and Yoshikawa were great, they played their parts beautifully. The actor who played number two was good as the villain, he portrayed the bad as well. The story line kept me engaged. The comic book feel of the movie was visually stunning. Most of the movies today suck, but this movie shows there is still some ingenuity and imagination in Hollywood.

This film is a great mix of Sin City meets Scott Pilgrim vs. the World meets Kill Bill. The story isn't half bad. It's a sort of homage to the spaghetti westerns in the sense of 2 strangers rolling into town controlled by a gang, mysterious backgrounds, mysterious-esque intentions (as the film progresses, you can draw more & more conclusions as to this point), high action scenes, some dry humor....all in all it was a good film. I will say tho, the visual styling & cinematography are really the major highlights to it. Even if the storyline completely bland (which it isn't, by any stretch of imagination), it would still be well worth the watch just to see that cinematography. I really liked the movie, in all aspects, and fully intend to hunt down a copy of the DVD/blueray.Also liked the cast, especially the leading roles played by Hartnett, Harrelson, and Gackt. Pearlman and Demi Moore weren't too bad, but I do think they could have played it a bit better. Not revealing the storyline, I think Demi came off a little too sulky & petulant, and Pearlman could have embraced his character with a little more.....iono a good word for it.....malevolence perhaps? I liked Kevin McKidd's character much better than I liked Pearlman's. Again tho, don't take that as any major negative. I definitely give this movie a 9/10 imho. Reading the critics reviews, I really feel this is another example of detached, overly-judgemental, pseudo-posh critics giving a bad review to something that deserved better, just because they're comparing it to an unrelated movie/genre. That, or they just plain didn't get it.