60
Yumiko Shaku as Yuki is small, beautiful, and stunningly sexy while she plies her deadly skill like a dancer. Her self-assured poise and large expressive eyes say everything that the minimal dialogue doesn’t.
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What are people saying?
What are critics saying?
60
A martial arts fantasy in modern dress, but set in an unidentified country and era, The Princess Blade is a tough toasted sandwich with a soft filling.
60
Washington Post by Desson Thomson
It suffers from a dreary middle section. Great movie, mediocre script.
60
Yuki's streamlined revenge story (the furious, elegant choreography is by HK maestro Donnie Yen) has in its modest dimensions a surprising grace.
60
Los Angeles Times by Kevin Thomas
With its stylized, near-surreal comic-book look and roots, The Princess Blade has all the makings of a cult film.
60
TV Guide Magazine by Maitland McDonagh
Adventurous viewers will find this unusual genre hybrid an intriguing experience, and Donnie Yen's fight choreography is breathtaking.
40
Despite its origins, nearly every visual and storytelling idea in this green-and-black-tinted martial-arts fantasy seems to derive from "Mad Max," "The Matrix" and/or "The Lord of the Rings."
80
Washington Post by Stephen Hunter
It's all story, character and dazzling martial arts violence, as orchestrated by fight choreographer Donnie Yen at breakneck speed.
50
Can't decide if it's a martial-arts thriller or a sappy soap opera.
50
This is a movie about excess. It's excessively long (at least it feels that way), the slo-mo is used in excess (so are the swords), and our heroine, Yuki (Yumiko Shaku), when she does emote, is excessively weepy for a coldblooded assassin.