At two hours and ten minutes LEGEND OF THE EIGHT SAMURAI could do with some serious pruning, especially in the romantic scenes which seem to last forever. Yes, some producer or another saw this action-adventure romp and decided to appeal to the teenage girl audience by throwing in plenty of love scenes which only serve to slow down the pace for us red-blooded males. The worst scene in the film is undoubtedly the love-making in the cave which seems to go on and on and on forever. To make matters worse, in the English dubbed version, a cheesy pop song plays out over the "action", which has scant regard for the subject matter of the film. If you think a similar moment in LUST FOR A VAMPIRE is bad, just wait until you see this.
Anyway, I digress. LEGEND OF THE EIGHT SAMURAI is a lengthy, epic-feeling STAR WARS rip-off with a popular fantasy theme. Influences about from George Lucas' aforementioned space opera to RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK and even CONAN THE BARBARIAN. Director Kinji Fukasaku is the man responsible for MESSAGE FROM SPACE, another STAR WARS rip-off, and here he is dedicated to delivering a straightforward historical romp complete with a colourful palette and some distinguished actors. And unfortunately it's one of those deeply flawed movies which alternates between crashing boredom and ultimate entertainment, a movie where the budget is saved for the finale and the first ninety minutes is really a time waste. In a film where eight "samurais" team up to save a kidnapped princess, it really isn't a good idea to wait until the LAST FIFTH of your movie until the scene where they actually attack. There isn't even any characterisation in the long hours beforehand: the characters just wander around and interact occasionally.
The film wins points by being imaginative when it comes to the fantasy aspects. There's an undead witch; dissolutions; an evil statue; magic glowing crystals; a huge, giant, rubbery snake – a cool effect inspired by the aforementioned Schwarzenegger flick – and the cheesiest, fakest-looking giant centipede that you'll ever bear witness to. Throw in some gorgeous girls who have poisoned blood and breath and a surprising display of nudity and gore (watch out for the witch bathing naked in blood like Ingrid Pitt in COUNTESS Dracula); numerous decapitations, skin grafts and gory impalements) and you have one heck of a kid's movie that would never get made in the west! As mentioned, the cast is a quality one. Yakushimaru and Sanada are emotive leads even if such emoting is out of place in a movie like this. Sonny Chiba is of course the best thing in the movie, and the scenes where he gets to kick backside are dynamic. The supporting cast are all pretty good, even if the characters are wooden and prove to be little more than attractive scenery waiting to get bumped off at the end of the film. And what an end this film has. The last thirty minutes alone contain some of the most exciting action and destruction I've seen in a long time. It had me cheering on the lead characters. Rated on its own, this ending would deserve the highest score, but sadly the long mind-numbing build-up drags the overall quality down. Still, if you want to see dozens upon dozens of Darth Vader-lookalike bad guy henchmen getting chopped up with swords and picks, a massive set getting destroyed via some nifty SFX and tons of bloodshed and heroics, then the last thirty minutes are for you. This is a colourful and crazy enough film to warrant a look!
Anyway, I digress. LEGEND OF THE EIGHT SAMURAI is a lengthy, epic-feeling STAR WARS rip-off with a popular fantasy theme. Influences about from George Lucas' aforementioned space opera to RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK and even CONAN THE BARBARIAN. Director Kinji Fukasaku is the man responsible for MESSAGE FROM SPACE, another STAR WARS rip-off, and here he is dedicated to delivering a straightforward historical romp complete with a colourful palette and some distinguished actors. And unfortunately it's one of those deeply flawed movies which alternates between crashing boredom and ultimate entertainment, a movie where the budget is saved for the finale and the first ninety minutes is really a time waste. In a film where eight "samurais" team up to save a kidnapped princess, it really isn't a good idea to wait until the LAST FIFTH of your movie until the scene where they actually attack. There isn't even any characterisation in the long hours beforehand: the characters just wander around and interact occasionally.
The film wins points by being imaginative when it comes to the fantasy aspects. There's an undead witch; dissolutions; an evil statue; magic glowing crystals; a huge, giant, rubbery snake – a cool effect inspired by the aforementioned Schwarzenegger flick – and the cheesiest, fakest-looking giant centipede that you'll ever bear witness to. Throw in some gorgeous girls who have poisoned blood and breath and a surprising display of nudity and gore (watch out for the witch bathing naked in blood like Ingrid Pitt in COUNTESS Dracula); numerous decapitations, skin grafts and gory impalements) and you have one heck of a kid's movie that would never get made in the west! As mentioned, the cast is a quality one. Yakushimaru and Sanada are emotive leads even if such emoting is out of place in a movie like this. Sonny Chiba is of course the best thing in the movie, and the scenes where he gets to kick backside are dynamic. The supporting cast are all pretty good, even if the characters are wooden and prove to be little more than attractive scenery waiting to get bumped off at the end of the film. And what an end this film has. The last thirty minutes alone contain some of the most exciting action and destruction I've seen in a long time. It had me cheering on the lead characters. Rated on its own, this ending would deserve the highest score, but sadly the long mind-numbing build-up drags the overall quality down. Still, if you want to see dozens upon dozens of Darth Vader-lookalike bad guy henchmen getting chopped up with swords and picks, a massive set getting destroyed via some nifty SFX and tons of bloodshed and heroics, then the last thirty minutes are for you. This is a colourful and crazy enough film to warrant a look!