Not The Best

Rating: 7/10 (7 July 2005)

Needless to say that the mere fact that this movie is directed by Kurasawa gives this movie five stars. Yet, I was really hoping for an intelligent twist in this story.... a great battle tactics, unfortunately that wasn't the case. The story simply deals with a tyrant dictator who raged war against many people, perhaps some were innocent,and now it is his time to pay back. The acting is good.... yet less impressive that other Kurasawa movies. I just couldn't love, hate or admire any of the characters. The camera tells the story in a beautiful way but sometimes it is just too far away to tell who is who.... one can only know by the color code if the banner! The battle scenes were magnificent, and even though too short lived, were the most interesting part of the movie. Overall, It is still worth the 2hrs and 40 min. Yet this movie doesn't stand out as the old ones did.