Seven Samurai (1954)

Shichinin No SamuraiThe choreography of all the action based sequences are dreadful and well shot, as it keeps it grounded and says a lot about the execution of the feature through it and also the plausible work that went behind the camera for it. Ticking for around 200 minutes, it never feels overstretched, but is elaborated in detail; the difference that the makers are aware of and keeps it separate throughout the course of it. It is rich on technical aspects like sound effects, choreography and production design. Akira Kurosawa; the screenwriter and director, has done an excellent on executing the anticipated vision, and also keeping the tone of the feature alive for such a long period, takes a lot skill and passion towards the project to pull it off. Each individual character in here is allotted a specific track to portray which they do hold on to tightly. There is a lot of concrete material which never gets overstuffed, as the makers take their time whilst holding few tactics to keep the audience on the edge of the seat and engaged through the process. Shichinin No Samurai is an emblem of unity that shines unflinchingly that is at best a classic culmination of all genres and at worst an action packed feature; both the side, it's a win-win.

This is mostly spoiler free, due to not giving anything away, but I do mention some obvious end-film scenes without mentioning anything specific. I am a fan of Toshiro Mifune. That is one of the reasons I decided to watch this movie. He is one of the best Japanese actors, although my knowledge of Japanese cinema is severely lacking. This movie is up there with The Godfather trilogy, 2001 A Space Odyssey, and many other great movies. One thing to know going in is that this is not an action movie first, this is a drama first, and an action movie when the time for the action is right. Like any good movie, the characters come first. While there are no downsides to this movie that I have noticed, some may be turned off my the length and the lack of knowledge of Japanese culture. This, for the moment, is the longest movie I have seen besides the Extended Lord of the Rings (counting it as one movie as it was filmed that way and written that way. The 3 and a half hour runtime is perfect for this movie. It may feel long but not 200+ minutes long. The drama is engaging, the comedy (mostly from Mifune) is great, and when the action starts it is edge of your seat. The early fight scenes are intense as they are shown to be what a real samurai fight would be like.

Many film historians point towards Seven samurai as the genesis of the great western and inspiration of countess story line and plot reinventions. That's great, but watching other "firsts", such as Citizen Kane, have failed to create that sense of disbelief that allows one to lose themselves in the experience. Not so with Akira Kurasawa's Seven Samurai.Each character has their own personality allowing the details of their emotions infiltrate the experience. This is not a WWII soldier story when everyone and then some die for their country,. This is not war time... or is it? That's the point of teh film that there is no end to transgressions against humanity and doing the right thing is both honorable and hard. I see some overplayed parts by the villagers and wonder if the Japanese audiences thought them more funny or silly, or simply disposed of them as the weak link of the movie, as I did. That is in contrast to the faceless enemy of the bandits, portrayed as poachers with swords... Can you imagine working so hard for so little and having it stolen without protection? You can feel for these farmers as if they were somewhere out in the American West, one of our own.... yes, the story is quite sympathetic.But movie is about our crew of seven and their joining to defend a defenseless group by means of preparedness that is more military strategy than you would have expected. I loved this aspect of the film the best, but would have felt rushed if we didn't know our group and who they were there to protect. This artifact of cine-history remains a masterpiece!

Seven Samurai is a movie about a small Japanese village having problems with bandit attacks. Therefore they decide to secure their safety by finding seven samurai who would defend them.First, I would like to say that I have broken a few stereotypes after I have watched this movie. The facts that it is a long movie from the 50's, a Japanese one, and a black-and-white one, rejected me from watching it earlier. I got used to all of these facts pretty fast and just enjoyed this masterpiece.The simplicity of the plot easily bought my full attention, as well as occasional comedy parts which successfully broke the monotony and came as a refreshment. It is interesting finding out how Japanese people were living in those times and it is shown really well. You actually manage to pretend for a moment you have left our advanced world and became a part of their primitive village.I respected Kurosawa before I even watched any of his movies. I respect him even more now when I have watched this great classic and I will surely be looking for something else he directed. The reason why I did not give this movie a 10 is occasional bizarre cryings, runs, deaths, but that surely did not destroy the whole experience.