Hirokin: The Last Samurai (2012)

On a distant planet the human overlords are slowly wiping out the indigenous species known as Arids in order to take the planet's raw materials. If it sounds like "Avatar", wait. Griffin (Julian Sands) is the evil human viceroy over the planet which he runs like the Roman Empire.Moss (Angus Macfadyen )is a rebel that Griffin is hunting and wants to kill. Through a series of events a human named Hirokin (Wes Bentley) winds up in Moss' s camp. Moss knows the old "Way" which is like an oriental earth religion, plus martial arts. He instructs Hirokin in "The Way" so he can unite the tribes and defeat the humans. "The Way" also allows one to see the outcome of their decision before it happens.The humans have great advances like hover crafts, but fight with swords and spears. It is difficult to tell humans from Arids except by the lines on their hands. They can interbreed, but unfortunately the genocide has caused most of the Arid women to become barren.To add to the mix there are some woman/breeding/jealousy issues between Griffin, Hirokin, Griffin's barren girlfriend Orange(Jessica Szohr) Hirokin's fertile wife Terra (Mercedes Manning) and Moss's daughter Maren (Laura Ramsey).The acting and dialogue was fairly bad. They could have interjected some humor from time to time...like "These 2 Arids walk into a bar for the first time and say, "I'll have the usual..."No f-bombs, sex, nudity. Rape? Woman showers with her clothes on. PG sex talk "submit"

With a little editing, this could become a cult classic. Good actors, great landscape, a little hokey hover craft. Wes Bentley did a great job with a heavy dose of on-screen close-ups. Scenery was majestic.The beginning written explanation of the situation is difficult to read, too long and goes by a little fast. The music needs to be lowered so that the dialog can be heard. Voices echoed at puzzling times. Some of the scenes need to be shortened, especially the ones roaming the desert. Costumes were well done. The one-sheet is great. Reviewers are a little too serious. This film has elements that are interesting and attractive. It should do well internationally.

This absurdly poor creation shamelessly steals from the likes of Gladiator, Star Wars, Cyborg 2, Dune, Power Rangers, Braveheart, Mad Max 3, and ends up feeling like a lengthy montage sequence narrated by a drug addict going through withdrawal. Hirokin's hair is the craziest part of the film. It's like a crow's nest. His first girl is kinda rough in the face because the movie doesn't want us to care for her too much. Enter the smart-mouthed, wily, buxom blonde and her pretty eyes. The bad guy is laughable, he wears a man-corset; his henchmen are laughable, they wear full body armor in the desert; his woman is a venomous snake with a heart of venomous gold that just craves to be desired and bedded properly. Did they have but one stock cgi hovercraft desertmobile to spare for the entire army of evil? You bet! Oh, the mentor figure for Hirokin is some crazy plump desert samurai that talks like a homeless person. Oh I get it 'Arids'='Arabs'. Cute. I get the feeling the author of this scenario doesn't speak English as his first language, or even broken English for that matter. The entire film is riddled with moonspeak. And everybody gets to become samurai in the end. Which is brilliant. Hirokin even has a signature move - he takes his pitiful blade, holds it like a throwing spear and then he throws it, impales the target instantly, and then snaps the blade black into his girly hands.Here's a splice from the dialogue: "I have seen you in the.. battlefield of my.. mind Hirokin, you will unite the tribes, my friend, change the world, my friend. My friend. Hirokin replies: No, thank you." and promptly walks away. Thank you Hirokin. I have learned a lot today. You have changed my life. (Btw, his name means 'Sword for the downtrodden', but it's okay if you just call him Hiro)

I recently saw the movie "Hirokin" and I have to say for an Indie movie it didn't feel that way. You normally associate an Indie movie with poor quality and mediocre acting as well as the feel that it was shot with a hand held video camera. This movie had great visual's as to the landscape and scenery. The story line was communicated well, Overall the film to me was an enjoyable. The characters in the film went well together, the comedic antics of the 2 hustlers in the "horde" were very entertaining. I thought that there were good performances from Angus and Julian as well as the gorgeous "Jessica Szohr". I was surprised to see these well known known actors in this indie as well as Wes Bentley. I guess if they attach themselves to a project they believe in it. The rest of the cast were good in and it helped enhance the movie. I give it to the Director for going out there to produce such a movie on an indie budget. If this had studio backing it would have those fine tuned effects and polishings to be a film.