Aragami Review

Disclaimer: Contains spoilers!

Plot Summary: A wounded samurai seeks shelter at a temple inhabited by an immortal warrior.

Review: I really want to like this movie, due to the interesting ideas and cool fight scenes, but they make it so hard when nothing makes sense and there is enough padding to fill a couch. On one hand you have a claustrophobic atmosphere accompanied by a curious mystery. The approach feels reminiscent to an old, Japanese ghost story, and this aspect thoroughly invests you in the scenario. When the action scenes do finally pick up, they're well done and employ a certain level of originality. On the other hand, however, we are offered little backstory on what is happening. The movie is extremely short so it's not as though they didn't have the time to explain things. Speaking of which, the short running time is loaded with filler material such as long stares, shots of a character "thinking," and taking advantage of any instance where a scene's time can be stretched. Realistically, there was enough material for an hour special on a TV show; it would have excelled better in that regard. The entire experience reminded me of "Ju-on: The Curse 2" whereby it's a cool movie, but the deliberate padding borders on unforgivable.

We are placed right in the middle of the action as two wounded samurai show up at a shrine or temple or whatever the hell it was supposed to be. We are never told what led up to this circumstance which you'd think would bring the story full circle or something. At the temple, they meet a suspicious woman right before the one samurai apparently dies, and the main samurai passes out only to be strangely resurrected later. When the samurai awakes he is greeted by a man and that woman--both acting shady as hell of course. The man explains to the samurai that he cannot leave since the terrain is treacherous in the rain and that there is a creature called Aragami out there. Eventually, as their conversation grows darker, the man reveals he is this creature, Aragami. Admittedly, we do get a backstory on Aragami as he reveals he always knew there was something not right about himself. He came to realize he had superhuman abilities and immortality, but he's grown wary of life and wishes to know death. The dilemma is that Aragami wants to be killed in battle by a superior opponent which is near impossible due to his extraordinary abilities. This is when things stop making sense since they imply the samurai has hidden potential yet they've also made him immortal through a kind of magic--feeding the main samurai the liver of the dead samurai. Ehhh, I don't know.

The samurai and Aragami fight a few times as we see Aragami's abilities firsthand. This part worked well since the samurai tries different tricks, and Aragami has collected weapons from around the world and not just Japan. The banter between the two characters is amusing at times as well; occasionally I thought this was a comedy. One thing I didn't understand was, if both men were immortal, how exactly could they die to regular attacks? For example, Aragami stabs his sword through the samurai's chest and it instantly heals. Later on, this same thing happens but Aragami believes the samurai is dead? Whaaaat? Making less sense, a divine light or an alien spaceship appears and all of a sudden the samurai has become more powerful than Aragami. I guess he went super saiyan or something. And again, Aragami is dispatched with by a simple stab to the chest--why did this kill him? Now, as a supernatural being, the samurai is told he must stay at the temple by the mysterious woman. Seriously, what the hell is she? The ending scene shows a new challenger to the samurai hundreds of years later preparing to fight with an arsenal of guns. I don't mind that ending at all, but we are left never understanding anything. Who or what is the woman? If Aragami was born a human, why would he magically become supernatural? What is the deal with the samurai and his dead friend? What battle did they come from? If the samurai always had this potential in him, why did the woman need to feed him the magic liver? If they're immortal, why can some regular attacks kill them while others have no effect? Ugh.

I don't want it to sound like this movie sucks when it is well above average. It just has glaring flaws that drastically hurt the final product. There are simply no explanations and the filler shots add anywhere from 15-25 minutes to the running time. There's no excuse for this. This isn't to say they had to spoon-feed the story to the audience, but there needs to be a balance between what is explained and what's left ambiguous. I appreciate the ghost story vibe, but, this is an action movie realistically, so the point is moot. I will applaud the actors for carrying the film with only two out of the five having major speaking roles. I'd still recommend checking this out--you may enjoy it significantly more than me if you don't even notice the padding or can appreciate it. Overall, a cool movie hindered by a lack of scope.

Notable Moment: When the samurai and Aragami fight in the dark, and the room is lit up by the sparks from the swords clashing.

Final Rating: 5.5/10