excellent but not among his very best

Rating: 7/10 (20 January 2006)

I absolutely love the films of Akira Kurasawa and have seen most of them. And, for some reason, this is not among my favorites although it is one of his highest rated films on IMDb. Perhaps I'm just being too picky, but I think MAYBE its popularity is because it was made somewhat recently and some of his older (and I think more interesting) films are sometime forgotten. After all, MOST of the IMDb reviewers are old enough that they could have seen this film on the big screen, while very few could have seen his earlier films in all their glory. The other reason why I think it's a little overrated is that his version of Macbeth (Throne of Blood) is the best retelling of Shakespeare and so Ran, despite it being wonderful, pales if you see them one after another (like I did). And finally, the characters and their interactions are just sterile--with little understanding or life to the them.
So what DOES this film have going for it? Well, the word is SPECTACLE. Like KAGAMUSHA (which came out around the same time), it had a big budget and glorious locations. It is simply a gorgeous film to see. Some watch Kurosawa for the spectacle, I tend to look more at the characterizations which are really secondary in this film.
Give me a film like Kurosawa's IKARU or SCANDAL over a film like this.