At the end of the day, it's all about the fight scenes. That's a truth the makers of Afro Samurai - Resurrection understand, and that's why the second animated installment of Takashi Okazaki's Afro Samurai saga works despite a plot that's flimsier than wet cardboard. A collision of chop socky and hip-hop culture, it delivers the only thing action lovers want: two warriors squaring off in an arena, knowing only one fighter will walk out alive.
But the mindlessness of the violence leaves a sour taste.
Gonzo, FUNimation Presents Afro Samurai - Resurrection Special Edition Director's Cut Blu-Ray
Plot? We don't need no steenkeeng . . . oh, okay. Afro (Samuel L. Jackson) is in retirement, contemplating the many lives he has taken in order to become the Number One Swordsman in all the land. However, the violence doesn't end as every ambitious sword-swinger wants to make their reputation by taking Afro down.
But the beautiful and deadly Sio (Lucy Liu) has another plan: she wants to make Afro suffer before ending his life. Working together with the now-cybernetic Jinno (Yuri Lowenthal), Sio not only steals the Number One headband but Afro's father's remains. Taunting Afro with her plans for revenge, she forces him to journey through her labyrinth of pain before confronting him with the ultimate horror.
That's the ostensible plot but Afro Samurai - Resurrection is really about first fight scene, second fight scene, third fight scene, rinse repeat as Wu-Tang Clan mastermind RZA provides the pounding hip-hop score. With its explicit showdowns, copious amounts of blood and occasional scenes of sexuality, this show earns its TV-MA rating.
Those fights are well put together, as Afro takes on foes both cybernetic and human, and the imagination behind those sequences are easily the high point of the movie. However, major boo-urns for the way the filmmakers wimp out on the final showdown between Afro and his ultimate foe. It's like the animators looked at each other, went "We got nothin'", wrapped up early and went out for beers.
But my biggest problem with Afro Samurai - Resurrection is there's no real thought behind the violence. The character fights without thought, not even bothering to question whether or not there's a way out of the never-ending cycle of "remember the atrocity committed against us that will justify the atrocity we will commit today!"
In one sequence, Afro is forced to take on a warrior he genuinely likes in a pointless battle. Afro is a passive spectator throughout the whole scene leading up to the showdown, seemingly unable to present an alternative to the pointless tragedy that's about to take place. I've railed against the nihilism and fatalism that's infected hip-hop culture before, but it really comes through in this film. Violence is all Afro knows, and it's his only means of dealing with the world.
The worst part is that Samuel L. Jackson, an actor who really should know better, is perpetuating the myth.
Afro Samurai - Resurrection Special Edition Director's Cut Blu-Ray Extras
The best bit here is the enclosed booklet featuring concept art, character designs and short blurbs about the major players in this story.
We also get insightful interviews with creator Takashi "Bob" Okazaki and composer RZA as they discuss their role in making the film. The featurettes East Meets West Part 1 and 2 also show how the filmmakers put together the collision between samurai and hip-hop culture.
Less successful is the video commentary by director Fuminori Kizaki, Okazaki, character designer/chief animation director Hiroya Iijima and the other members of Gonzo's crew: it gets dry awful fast.
Afro Samurai - Resurrection Special Edition Director's Cut All About Thoughtless Violence
A wise man once told me that part of growing older is increased imagination - you're more aware of the implications of what you see. That imagination interfered with any enjoyment I might have gotten out of Afro Samurai - Resurrection: the way it wholeheartedly embraces the Thanatos Principle only serves to underline the self-destructiveness of hip-hop culture. Sure, it features well-constructed fight scenes but the lack of thought behind the violence is actually pretty sad.
That's why the Afro Samurai - Resurrection Special Edition Director's Cut Blu-Ray gets a 2.5/5.
Dominic von Riedemann - Dominic is the Animated Film Feature Writer, and winner of 11 Suite 101 Editors' Choice Awards.
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