Bunraku: A film with style to spare, this actioner combines various genres into one really colorful, visually interesting pastiche, including western and samurai films (something that‘s been in vogue recently). Unfortunately that doesn’t make up for a certain lack of originality in story or general silliness in dialogue. In the future, after a globe-spanning war, firearms are banned. Nicola the Woodcutter (Ron Perlman) is a crime boss that controls his territory with his 9 assassins (including his no. 2 man, Kevin McKidd), all of whom are masters at hand to hand combat. Into his world come two disparate men - a mysterious stranger with a fondness for fisticuffs (played by Josh Hartnett) and a samurai (played by the relatively androgynous Japanese rock star Gackt). They are brought together in a pursuit of mutual vengeance. The supporting cast also includes Demi Moore and Woody Harrelson. The film purports to lean heavily on the Asian puppet tradition that gave the film its title (and which plays a large part in the opening credits), but I have a hard time seeing it. It seems more like an excuse to retread German Expressionist film in day-glo colors. The fight choreography, for the most part, is shabby. In fact, some of the fights starring the nominally less physically talented actors have an apparent sloppiness that is hard to ignore (as in “how the heck did that take make it into the final film?”). I was looking for a time-waster and boy! did this waste my time. Woodchuck sez, “Skip it.”
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