I saw this in the video store last night and the cover stated that this is the movie that influenced Tarantino's Kill Bill. After watching the film I think that the only way this could have influenced Tarantino is if he watched it and then said "this is terrible, I bet I can do this a million times better" and then did it a million times better.<br /><br />I can't believe how high this movie is rated. Of course there's no accounting for taste and everyone has his/her own opinion but this is not a movie that should be rated 8.3/10. I give this movie 2 out of 10, only because there are worst movies out there.<br /><br />It is clear I did not like this movie. People are talking about great direction and editing, good cinematography techniques and stuff like that. They must have seen a different movie because I didn't see anything like that. In most of the scenes the camera was out of focus, the picture was blurry and whenever a handheld camera was used I felt like I was in a boat in the ocean in the middle of a violent storm (ok I'm exaggerating but you get the idea). My eyes actually hurt at some point.<br /><br />Now about the story<br /><br />**********WARNING - SPOILERS ************<br /><br />The story wasn't bad, especially the whole inner confrontation part, but it still left a lot to be desired. And the fact that there are some major holes in the script doesn't help either. Basically the story goes like this. 3 men and a woman murder a young woman's husband an then take her and torture and rape her for three days. One of them takes the woman with him and after a while she kills him for what he had done to her. She then sets out to kill the rest of the gang but is arrested and sent to prison. In prison she gives birth to a girl and we learn from the start that this girl only exists to avenge her mother. The girl begins training to be able to get revenge and after 20 years she sets out to find and kill the 3 remaining people that wronged her mother. <br /><br />The first man Lady Snowblood kills is one of the 3 villains she has devoted her life to killing. Wait, no, he is just a gang leader whith no connection to the story whatsoever that just happens to be there. As she kills him she says that this is his punishment for the crimes he commited against people. So she is a vigilante out to punish criminals? But from that point onward everything we see suggests that her sole purpose is the punishment of the people that wronged her mother. Her whole life is devoted to this. So her first kill has no purpose and is totally out of place. Maybe they just needed one more action scene.<br /><br />In search of the villains, she goes to a village in order to ask the village head about the whereabouts of the 3 people she is looking for. As soon as he says he probably can't help her she starts begging(!!!). Ok, maybe this is supposed to show her softer side but, in my opinion, a woman who is portrayed as a demon, not belonging to this world, and has devoted her whole life into becoming a killing machine in order to get her revenge, wouldn't beg in such a manner. Anyway, he finally agrees to help her.<br /><br />So they find the first of the three and after Lady Snowblood saves his life she kills him herself. He has a daughter who, of course, wants revenge too. But this won't be dealt with till the very end. Then they locate the second villain but Lady Snowblood finds out that he has died and won't be able to kill him herself. She takes it out on his grave but this is noticed by a man who was there and he starts searching for her to find out what was this all about. When he confronts her it turns out he is the owner of a local newspaper and wants to write her story but she tells him to forget it and leave her alone.<br /><br />Surprisingly, the next scene shows us the newspaper being printed with details of Lady Snowblood's quest. How did he find out? Well, he probably read the script. Actually people close to the heroine give him the story in order to set a trap for the last remaining villain - the woman. They explain to lady Snowblood that they know this newspaper man well and trust him. In fact they know him for more than 10 years, yet nobody knows that he is the son of the second villain that is supposed to be dead. I guess they know him really well.<br /><br />Anyway, the trap works and the woman that they are searching for comes out of hiding. Lady Snowblood tries to kill her, she escapes, and while searching for her they find her hanging from the ceiling. So it seems revenge has been exacted but soon after we find out that the second villain who was supposed to be dead is actually alive. He goes to the newspaper man - who turns out to be his son - to tell him just that: that he is alive. Well that isn't a big surprise - it could not be any other way if Lady Snowblood is to fulfill her life's purpose - what is a big surprise is that a man who staged his own death and knows there is a woman out to get him just comes out of hiding to inform a man, who is obviously close to his enemy, that he is alive. He even tells him where he lives so that they don't waste time searching for him. <br /><br />Then we go to the grand finale where the newspaper man sacrifices himself for Lady Snowblood to kill his father. And as Lady Snowblood leaves the building the first villain's daughter appears out of nowhere (how on earth did she know where to find her?) and kills her. THE END.<br /><br />Throughout the movie characters which seemingly played a big part in the heroine's life just pop up out of nowhere (like the lady who trained Lady Snowblood to be a thief) and are as easily dismissed seconds later. And the worst part of it is than even the action scenes weren't any good. Short, void of any special skill, just plain boring. And Lady Snowblood doesn't convince that she is able to handle a sword - let alone be a killing machine. <br /><br />This is the first time I feel compelled to write so many bad things about a movie. I usually try to find redeeming qualities in just about any movie I watch but this one has close to none. In short, avoid this movie. I'm certain there are much better movies with the same theme out there (come to think of it ANY movie with a similar theme is bound to be better than this one).