Scorsese's '7 Samurai'

Rating: Null/10 (26 December 2002)

As 'The Seven Samurai' was for Kurosawa, this is the film that Scorsese will always be remembered for. And like that Kurosawa opus, it is not because of technical perfection or creative peak, but because this movie struck the perfect balance of the two. Kurosawa and Scorsese both had other films that were more creative (Roshomon and Taxi Driver, respectively), and they both had other films that were more technically impressive (Ran and Kwaidan, respectively), but it is in those two films that the two directors found the balance that makes a masterpiece. Kurosawa never again achieved that balance (although he came close a few times), and Scorsese has yet to as well (although he has also come close).
this film just pops! it has a frenetic energy that makes its nearly two and a half hour running time just fly by. the various details, and the charismatic narration (possibly the finest use of narration in film to date) used to point them out just draws you into this world. scorsese's use of abrupt freezeframes during the exposition stage really punctuates the points of those scenes. by this time scorsese had already perfected his use of music in such films as Mean Streets and Taxi Driver, but here it shines like no other. he actually scores the entire film with period pop tunes, picked with exquiste taste, variety and precision. all though so many films have tried, no other movie uses music quite like this, and quite this well (well, maybe Boogie Nights).
The cast is a who's-who of actors who have done, or would go on to do fine work in the mafia genre. Sopranos fans will no doubt notice a young Micheal Imperioli (Christopher) playing the bartender 'Spider' in a memerable scene. I recall in an episode of the Sopranos in which Cristopher, having been made to wait for an inordinately long time at a bakery, get fed up and shoots the counter-person in the foot. the guy, writhing on the ground in pain, asks "why did you have to shoot me in the foot?!", and in a clever nod to his Goodfellas role, Christopher responds "it happens".
ahh, I could go on forever about this movie. just see it (whether or not you've seen it already).