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Just been to see it, and enjoyed it thoroughly. Highly recommended to those who are not sensitive to reasonably realistic depictions of the effects of weapons on the human body.
It's beautifully shot, and the combat was very well done - it didn't make me bounce around going "No! Wrong! " at any point.
I only have three minor niggles - The gratuitous "Look American audiences - He gets the girl and lives happily ever after" shot which followed a voiceover "No-one knows what happened to him" which would have been a far better end for me.
The sword-stroke that supposedly decapitated the general committing seppuku after the first battle rather obviously (to me) passed above his head. If they'd been a bit more cunning with the camera angles it would have been more convincing. But I doubt many in the audience have as much experience of judging blade trajectories as I do.
The usual film cliches that main characters never wear their helmets, and the hero can be repeatedly wounded, each wound briefly incapacitating them before they carry on seemingly unaffected. But they all do that. Oh, and why does the hero always get wounded in the shoulder?
Still, a very good film. It makes you feel for the characters and manages to make you respect their decisions while showing you the suicidal futility of it all. The conflict between the good and bad aspects of westernisation is reasonably balanced, I thought. Moving forward with respect for tradition, etc. The Samurai have to give way, but that doesn't mean full on capitalism has to be embraced. Go see it.
It's beautifully shot, and the combat was very well done - it didn't make me bounce around going "No! Wrong! " at any point.
I only have three minor niggles - The gratuitous "Look American audiences - He gets the girl and lives happily ever after" shot which followed a voiceover "No-one knows what happened to him" which would have been a far better end for me.
The sword-stroke that supposedly decapitated the general committing seppuku after the first battle rather obviously (to me) passed above his head. If they'd been a bit more cunning with the camera angles it would have been more convincing. But I doubt many in the audience have as much experience of judging blade trajectories as I do.
The usual film cliches that main characters never wear their helmets, and the hero can be repeatedly wounded, each wound briefly incapacitating them before they carry on seemingly unaffected. But they all do that. Oh, and why does the hero always get wounded in the shoulder?
Still, a very good film. It makes you feel for the characters and manages to make you respect their decisions while showing you the suicidal futility of it all. The conflict between the good and bad aspects of westernisation is reasonably balanced, I thought. Moving forward with respect for tradition, etc. The Samurai have to give way, but that doesn't mean full on capitalism has to be embraced. Go see it.
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