Afro Samurai: Resurrection

Afro is back with more breathtaking fights and incredible WTF moments. It seems anything is possible and the gunslinger is back. (22.02.2009)

I mean, I don't know, but I expect a film called Afro Samurai to have a lot of self-awareness right out of the gate. And this takes itself seriously as a documentary about oil spills. The animation is bravura, no question about it. But the fact that not a single decent joke is made (or was that chatty black guy who kept pulling the Afro supposed to be funny?) and everyone just grits their teeth the whole movie did get on my nerves a bit. Not to mention the fact that you can clearly see where the film stretches the running time (completely unnecessarily) to reach the desired length. For example, Sio's repeated monologue several times about how much she wants to hurt the protagonist. And if you want to completely abolish the momentum of a fight scene, drop some hip-hop into it. Which the film does constantly. In short, a disappointment, but drawn and paced beautifully. (26.09.2010)

Despite some aspects being better than the anime miniseries Afro Samurai, you can probably talk about a more sophisticated narrative. For example, I thought the original crazy drive that Afro had somehow did not hold up. The original anime miniseries was one amazing big ride, whereas, with this movie, there are slightly quieter passages sometimes. In the original anime miniseries, countless limbs were flying through the air and blood flowing by the hectoliters. In contrast, in this movie, whereas it was also quite hardcore, it was much milder because the dismemberment of robots is not so effective, in my opinion. Even the RZA’s soundtrack seemed slightly calmer than the stuff he would normally produce. Perhaps my mistake was to expect a frantic action ride again. While some aspects were better in the anime miniseries Afro Samurai, overall it went downhill although stays still above average, although I am only awarding a rating of 7.2/10. (10.02.2016)

I have to say that I liked the series much more. It still has its charm, the idea of Afro Samurai is simply great on its own, but it doesn't change the fact that the series had a much better plot, which was brilliantly built. For those who liked the series, this is fine, but personally, I just can't erase the bitter taste that remained after this film. The series will always take the lead for me. (04.02.2014)