Naruto Shippuden the Movie: The Will of Fire Blu-ray Review
From little acorns, mighty oaks grow.
Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman, November 2, 2012
Naruto may well hold the record for having built the largest franchise out of what was originally a one time only,
standalone comic. That supposed "one time only" publication debuted in 1997, and now some fifteen years later, a
manga adaptation is
still being serialized, and two anime series have also resulted. The first,
Naruto,
chalked up a fairly respectable 220 episodes and aired from 2002 to 2007. The sequel, entitled
Naruto:
Shippuden, is still going strong after twelve "seasons" which started with the series' debut in 2007. But, wait, you
also get: the
Naruto universe has also been populated by several feature film adaptations, also starting in
2007.
Naruto Shippuden: Inheritors of the Will of Fire was the third in the
Naruto Shippuden film
franchise (there are several basic
Naruto feature films as well) and was originally
released in 2009. The sheer volume of
Naruto releases in one form or another can seem a little daunting, and
The Will of Fire, as this English reversioned Blu-ray has been slightly retitled, pretty much requires at least some
background in the
Naruto universe to make heads or tails out of its plot. Like many franchises that have
developed their mythologies over a good stretch of time,
Naruto Shippuden has its own sometimes arcane
vocabulary and terminologies that may make newcomers feel totally lost at times. Suffice it to say that at its core the
Naruto franchise is a ninja series with some supernatural elements. The lead character Naruto is an ambitious
young man with dreams of becoming the greatest ninja ever, but who is hobbled (at least in the eyes of others) due to
the fact that he "hosts" a supposedly demonic fox spirit with nine tails who has wreaked havoc on Naruto's village.
Naruto: Shippuden has continued taking elements from the continuing manga, with Naruto continuing on his
quest to increase his fighting abilities and also coming into contact with a variety of unusual characters, including some
who host their own fighting spirits.
If it feels like we join the story of
Naruto Shippuden: The Will of Fire already in progress, that's one of the
obstacles that newcomers will have to overcome in order to even begin to partially understand what's going on. Sai, a
compatriot of Naruto, is atop a giant winged bird in a violent thunder storm, insisting that he must find the so-called
Kekkei
Genkai, a frequently utilized term in the
Naruto universe that refers (more or less) to ninjas with specially
developed powers which are passed through their bloodlines, making them the exclusive "owners" of these techniques.
Kekkei Genkai are rare ninjas, and a rash of strange disappearances of those imbued with these genetic abilities sets
the
five lands in
Naruto Shippuden at each other's throats.
What initially threatens to become an internecine conflict is revealed instead to be the dastardly work of the main villain
of the piece, Hiruko, who has already taken four Kekkei Genkai and has his nefarious eyes set on the fifth and final
specially endowed ninja, who just happens to be Naruto's mentor, Kakashi. The film has actually already given us some
interesting (albeit pretty brief) back story (something much needed for a franchise with such a long history) where we
see Naruto training to become a ninja under Kakashi's tutelage. When Naruto and Sai are injured in the big battle that
begins the film, Kakashi's visit to the boys in the hospital where they're recovering is marked by presents to each of
them, and the gift he gives to Naruto is especially meaningful, a symbol of one of the main themes of the film, the duty
of a ninja to stand by his friends, no matter what.
In fact loyalty turns out to be a recurring plot point throughout this
Naruto enterprise, as Hiruko claims to be
from Naruto's land (actually a hidden village, but I digress), throwing suspicion on Naruto and his cohorts as fellow
travelers, and putting Kakashi in an especially vulnerable position. One of the gambits
Naruto Shippuden: The Will
of Fire undertakes is that it lets the audience in on the plot of the bad guy virtually from the get go, and then
spends most of the rest of the film dealing with the heroes attempting to overcome that plot. That has both good
points and bad. On the one hand, it deprives the film of any real suspense, as Hiruko's machinations are spelled out in
detail very early in the film. On the other, it frees the film up to further develop the relationships between the heroes,
which is actually where this
Naruto Shippuden finds some real traction and delivers its most solid entertainment.
But Hiruko's attempts to start a Fourth Ninja War gives the film some immediacy and makes the heroic characters'
valiant attempts to keep the peace, whatever the cost, quite compelling.
Naruto Shippuden: The Will of Fire may surprise those who are expecting a nonstop action-fest, and it may end
up surprising longtime
Naruto fans the most. Yes, there are battles galore in this film, as should be expected,
but this is also a rather surprisingly heartfelt treatise that nicely puts Naruto and his friends in an interesting light,
where we see exactly what the ninja code means to each of them. Newcomers are still going to be flummoxed by the
film's nonstop use of "inside" terms and an over-reliance on assuming the audience is going to automatically know the
relationships and histories on display here. But even newcomers should be able to understand the basic themes of
loyalty and duty which this
Naruto Shippuden film does a nice job of delineating.
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