Single. Greatest. Shakespeare. Adaptation. Ever.

Rating: 10/10 (9 July 2005)

Thankee kindly.
Kurosawa, while a great director, isn't somebody whose films I blindly endorse.
However, Ran takes the cake. It easily makes my personal top five films any time I think about it.
The imagery is absolutely stunning, and the dialogue is quite clever. The battle scenes are suitably horrific, and the humor (and yes, there is humor) is subtle enough not to get in the way.
All told, one of the greatest films it's been my privilege to see. I watched it to get the nightmare that was Cold Mountain out of my head, as proof that long movies can actually be epic, as opposed to boring, trite, and predictable.