Great film, avoid it.

Rating: 8/10 (19 February 2017)

I think you, viewer, and reader of this review, should avoid Kagemusha.
Here is why.
I'm a long standing fan of Kurosawa, and i consider Rashomon and Shichinin no Samurai two of the greatest films ever made; Kagemusha, is a very, very different beast.
First off, it's a three hour marathon. I grew up in the 70s and 80s and it was not uncommon for directors to write cinema-quality films that lasted for five or six hours, which would then be serialized on TV. But to stomach the whole of these 187 minutes, it takes the most hardcore film snob.
The main story is of, Toshiro Mifune (which has carried the brunt of Kurosawa's work), here as a lowly thief who is at the right place at the right time. He looks just like a local lord who has just died, so they put him in place as Kagemusha, or "stunt double". There is an opposing clan (the Oda/Tokugawa alliance) which wants to attack them, but they are scared of the lord's tenacity.
Now, this film has tons of fantastic acting, superb touching moments from Mifune, as he changes - like his character does - from thief into feudal lord, more and more adapting to the role within the role.
But it's also three bloody hours.
See, the issue here is that the classic "hero" solution cannot work; this is a historical piece and Mifune's character must fail, despite how much we root for him. This not only leads to disappointment, but also sets the film's needs for lengthy and complex developments of the background, rather than focusing on the character arcs, such as 7 Samurai does.
And this is why i have a hard time recommending Kagemusha to the viewer. It's a documentary interspersed with some character drama, but if you are not prepared to watch over two hours of medieval troops marching, i suggest you give this a miss. It's a shame because with some solid editing you could get a 1-hour film of great class; but then again maybe a re-write would be better.
8/10 - it might be a masterpiece, but it's not a FILM masterpiece.