Set in 1844, the sadistic Lord Naritsugu is rising to power and murders and rapes at will, no one can touch him because his brother is the current Shogun, a government official decides something must be done before he rises too far and a trusted samurai is hired to ambush the Lord on his way home from Edo, 12 samurai are initially gathered with the 13th member (with supposed samurai lineage but I believe really a forest or mountain demon) found in the forests on their trek to a town which has been bought as the point to ambush the Lord and his 70 followers. The problem is he now has 200 followers and the last part of the movie is set for the ambush.
The director of this movie is Takashi Miike (I have only ever seen his Ichi the Killer as a movie and as a manga and it still makes me flinch to this day) but he has toned down his violence and bloodshed a little for this. The movie is a brooding visual marathon for most of the movie, the Lord is a sadist and you will feel too that he needs to go (some of the stuff is quite awful), there is some action in the first three quarters of the movie but it all a set up for the epic action at the end between the 13 and 200 and this is what it could have been called, some of the 13 are stone cold killing machines, while others are barely able to hold their own but sometimes numbers count for nothing in confined areas as the village has been booby trapped and specifically designed to split up the forces of Lord Naritsugu, there is bow, sword, spear, gunpowder and flaming bullocks (strange, very strange) action here.
This is an epic ending and the reason for the 4 STARS (you could basically skip to it every time), my favourite character is Kiga who they enlist (well free him from a basket suspended from a tree) when they meet in the forest (and is responsible for the best dialogue, rock throwing and geisha/brothel house destruction and not in the way you might think).
Will have to find the original now and I believe the movie is set on real events which led to the Meiji restoration in the 1860's.
YES! I've been hearing nothing but great reviews for this flick and I'm trying to get my hands on it to give it a watch. Sounds like a winner!
ReplyDeleteNow that's what I'm talking about!
ReplyDeleteThis I really need to check out!
ReplyDeleteChristopher
Haven't seen it, but I've heard good things. Thanks for the review.
ReplyDeleteI liked it a lot too.
ReplyDeleteWhen I came out of the cinema, having watched it earlier in the year, I thought, I bet Fran will enjoy this! It's a great movie, very brutal in places but thoroughly enjoyable if you're a fan of samurai and Japanese history.
ReplyDeleteI'll have to get my hands on a copy. I really like modern chinease/japanese swordplay movies. they do action like no other genre.
ReplyDeleteHey this sounds pretty good, reminds me of Ip man somewhat. I'll give it a watch, because of your intriguing review. Thanks
ReplyDeleteLooks like a wonderful movie. Kind sounds similar to another Jet-Li movie I had seen. Definitely I would this I guess. But sometimes these movies are too brutal right?
ReplyDeletesounds epic. I've seen quite a lot of reviews on the film around the net lately.
ReplyDeleteGreat review Lurker. I knew you would love this film.
ReplyDeleteawesome movie, but that scene with the poor woman without any limbs.... :|
ReplyDeleteI always love a good samurai movie! :)
ReplyDeleteI'll have to check this out, I watched Kill Bill I & II Quentin Tarantino tips his hat to this genre. great bloodshed movie. UMA!!
ReplyDeleteSo why did they use a katana with such an obviously fake hamon line for the poster? For shame.
ReplyDeletei really liked this movie, i dunno why a lot of people hate it tho,
ReplyDeleteI might have to watch it.
ReplyDeleteNow you got me interested Angry L!
ReplyDeleteLooks awesome!
ReplyDeleteI agree this movie is 4 stars all the way.
ReplyDeleteMissed this one but it's on the list now though!
ReplyDeleteGreat review. After the dark first half (some of the really are disturbing) turns into the Water Margin with buckets of blood - I loved it.
ReplyDeleteHaven't seen it, but your review makes me want to.
ReplyDeleteSounds like it's worth a watch. I'm pretty certain Hannibal used the flaming bullocks trick himself at one point.
ReplyDeleteThe Water Margin with buckets of blood!! Now I will really have to see it!!!
ReplyDeleteSo Kiga literally killed.
ReplyDeleteAnother one I need to borrow!!
ReplyDeleteIt was a pretty good movie, nice review.
ReplyDeletethe preview looked pretty sick
ReplyDeleteA couple things, first you need to check out Miike's other films. Sukyaki Western Django was epic. An American Western with Samurai imposed. Also check out The Great Yokai War, it's basically a mix of Labyrinth and Hellboy. Very fun movie.
ReplyDeleteAs far as this, I loved it. Literally the last 50 minutes was wall to wall action. That and how they treated the main villain. He was so despicable. Easily the best samurai movie I've seen.
I fail to understand how can this movie be so praised, when it relies so much on the shock-factor of graphic violence to grab the viewers attention. It lacks subtlety, it looks like an exploitation film. Other jidaegeki movies have portrait the dynamics of oppression and revenge in a much more engaging way, in my opinion, like 47 Ronin, Seppuku, Sword of Doom and the 1963 original version of this one...
ReplyDeleteIn the end, only some moments of intense sword-fighting salvaged it.
I enjoyed watching the movie and feel there is more to it than some give it credit for. Watching the entirety of the film is worthwhile.
ReplyDeleteWell this just sounds awesome.
ReplyDeleteSurely one epic samurai movie. The ending battle is brutal yet so awesome.
ReplyDeletethe movie is very nice, with a surprise finale too
ReplyDelete