View Larger Image |
Seven Samurai - Criterion Collection Actor: Toshirô Mifune Director: Akira Kurosawa Number of Items: 1 Picture Format: Academy Ratio Format: Black & White Audience Rating: Unrated Running Time: 208 minutes Studio: Criterion Collection Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1 Region Code: 1 Product Group: DVD Release Date: 1999-03-01 Buy from Amazon |
 "The Seven Samurai, possibly one of the most powerful movies ever"The Seven Samurai, Akira Kurosawa's masterpiece, is by far one of the greatest films in existance. After I watched it a few days ago, I put down the remote and whispered "wow". For people who judge graphics and effects in movies, well, you don't even want to think about what you're missing! The graphics and effects have nothing to do with a great movie, it depends on the storyline and characters and much, much more. And the storyline in this movie is by far one of the greatest ever. Set in 16th Century Japan, it follows the plight of a defenseless farming village that lives in constant fear of marauding bandits. The farmers know that when their crops are harvested, the thugs will attack, so four men go to town in hopes of employing samurai to fight for them. I don't care what any of you say, that storyline is awesome. The characters in this movie are just as cool and funny as actors today, so I don't know what any of you guys are arguing about! Kurosawa's "Seven Samurai" is a perfection in nearly every aspect, titling it as one of the greatest films ever created. Ohh yea, and I read a lot of reviews here saying that this movie was a rip off of the western "Magnificent Seven." I admit the Magnificent Seven was a great movie, but to let you know, the "Seven Samurai" was made way before the "Magnificent Seven", so for those that think the Seven Samurai is a copy of the Magnificent Seven, you need to get your facts straight... "A Masterpiece of Cinema"Amazing. A movie that doesn't rely on a explosion every five minutes to hold the audiences attention,a movie where cinematography and character development matters,where the characters are more than thin caricatures. Kurosawa should be alive to-day, in order to pull modern cinema out of the muck.This movie is not for our ADD culture, with its epic length and rather slow pace, (not to mention its difficult for westerners to grasp many seemingly bizzare customs of a foreign culture, though I believe the character's actions reach us on profound level that defies cultures and touches upon the human condition) but if you can sit and think long, buy this movie. "A gem"This is a masterpiece. Often imitated but never surpassed. In this day and age it is refreshing to see such a great movie without it being a great movie because of special affects. Toshori Mifune at his best. "A masterpiece"The classic praise of this movie is true - the theme is timeless, the characters are deep, the cinemetography is groundbreaking. Somehow what gets lost is that Kurosawa just knows how to tell a good story. Everything that is built on top of that is just bonus. Toshiro Mifune comes alive as the farmer turned Samurai, who fights for acceptance from a group he idolizes. He captures the essence of the farmer/samurai conflict in his person. Perhaps the one mistake I made was seeing this before watching the Magnificent Seven. The great western pales in comparison to this masterpiece. The other challenge for some is pacing. Those expecting a pure rock 'em sock 'em action flick will be disappointed. Building a masterpiece takes time. "an obscure little flick by some Japanese guy"Is there anyone who cares about movies who hasn't seen or doesn't know about this one? The greatest action movie ever made. The greatest historical epic ever made--an epic about obscure people performing obscure deeds in an obscure little village. The first let's-assemble-a-team flick. The film that spawned more first-rate imitations and cheap knock-offs than any other Japanese art film (with Yojimbo running a close second). Three and a half hours long and not an ounce of fat on it. Every scene--every shot!--performs three or four functions simultaneously: it moves the narrative forward, introduces or complicates a character, establishes a setting, introduces themes or motifs, clarifies and develops important points, etc. The directorial virtuosity on display here is awe-inspiring (it rivals Citizen Kane in its cinematic ingenuity). Take for example my favorite scene, the one that introduces the three main characters, the wise leader Kambei, the admiring young Katsushiro, and the swaggering oaf "Kikuchiyo". There is hardly a word spoken in this scene, yet the characters of these three men are indelibly established in the briefest of glimpses, all while keeping the audience in suspense as to how, or whether, an infant will be rescued from a crazed, panicky thief who has taken it hostage. Note the brilliant, subtle manipulation of time in this scene (it ends with a dramatic slow-motion death, a move that Sam Peckinpah later ripped off and built an entire career around). And that's just one of dozens of equally remarkable scenes in the film. The cinematography is gorgeous, too--a rich, silvery black-and-white with dazzlingly sharp deep-focus landscapes, interiors, and portraits. Freeze the film at practically any frame and you've got an Ansel Adams photograph. Criterion has done a nice job of transferring the film to DVD. The images are crisp and clear, marred only by some tiny scratches. (Criterion has never matched the amazing transfer job it did with Kurosawa's Hidden Fortress.) Contrary to what some Amazon reviewers believe, the movie is presented here in its original aspect ratio: Kurosawa did not make a widescreen film until 1957, three years after he made Seven Samurai. Extras include an interesting commentary by foreign-film distributor Michael Jeck, who gives detailed histories of the various actors who appear in the film and discusses some of the cinematic techniques that make Seven Samurai so effective and affecting. On second thought, don't waste your time and money on this dismal little dud. Buy the deluxe super-bit two-disc collector's edition of Martin Brest's awesome Gigli instead. |
