Goemon

Plot synopsis:
As a child, Ishikawa Goemon's (Yōsuke Eguchi) entire family was assassinated for political reasons. His mother (Ryo) sent Goemon away for safety minutes before he witnessed her death. Running away with his caretaker, they were attacked by bandits but he was saved by the great Nobunaga Oda (Hashinosuké Nakamura). Goemon followed Nobunaga and Hattori Hanzō (Susumu Terajima) was assigned to train him in the ways of the shinobi (ninja) along with his martial brother, Saizō (Takao Osawa).
After many years of training, Goemon was assigned to protect Oda's niece, Princess Chacha (Ryōko Hirosue). They developed feelings for each other, but status differences kept them apart and eventually she departed. Before leaving, Chacha gave Goemon her favourite fan as a memento. Oda rewarded Goemon's faithful protection of Chacha by giving him his double-bladed sword. Meanwhile, Oda's generals, Toyotomi Hideyoshi (Eiji Okuda) and Akechi Mitsuhide (Kazuaki Kiriya), conspired to kill Nobunaga. The two made a secret written covenant, placing their signatures onto a black scroll. Mitsuhide, not trusting Hideyoshi, had his men hide the contract. After assassinating Nobunaga, Hideyoshi betrayed and killed Mitsuhide, took credit for slaying Nobunaga's killer and became the next ruler of Japan. With Nobunaga dead, the two young ninjas parted ways for different pursuits: Saizo hopes to be elevated to Samurai status and chose to remain in service to Nobunaga house, but Goemon chose to leave and be free. As a parting gift, Goemon broke his double-bladed sword in two and gave one-half to Saizo.
Years later, Goemon became a master thief and something of a Robin Hood. Sarutobi Sasuke (Gori), an inexperienced bounty hunter, tried to arrest Goemon, but failed and became his private servant instead. During a festival, Goemon infiltrated and robbed a treasure repository that contained a mysterious box with foreign writing on it. Ishida Mitsunari (Jun Kaname), a high-ranking samurai under Lord Hideyoshi, tried to retrieve this box to destroy it, but Goemon escaped with it, leaving behind only his calling card: a red sticker with the Japanese character "Go" on it. Goemon, unaware of the value of the box, threw it away and distributed the gold to the poor. A young pick-pocket, Koheita, picked up the mysterious box and kept it as a memento. The following day, Goemon learned of the box's value from Sasuke. Intrigued by the box, Goemon returned to the city to find it. Searching around the slums for the box, Goemon heard a scream and finds Koheita and his mother, who had just been callously murdered by cruel and petty local samurai. Goemon saved Koheita and retrieved the box, but also took Koheita under his wing.
Saizo and his ninja squad, working for Mitsunari, appeared and confronted Goemon. Refusing to turn over the box, Goemon fled and was pursued by Saizo's ninjas. Goemon evaded all of his pursuers except Saizo, who remained close behind him. In a showdown between the former brothers, Saizo informed him that the box Goemon carried was referred to as a "Pandora's Box" by foreigners, and the two engaged in a duel. After Goemon was overpowered and about to be killed by Saizo, Hattori Hanzo appeared and intervened, causing Saizo to withdraw. After returning to the city, Goemon examined the "empty box" and discovered a map to a mysterious treasure. Following the map, Goemon and Sasuke were led to the destroyed Buddha statue where Akechi Mitsuhide had hidden his contract with Hideyoshi. Goemon became angry once he learned that Hideyoshi was involved with Nobunaga's death. Hattori Hanzo then reappeared, under the command of Tokugawa Ieyasu (Masatō Ibu). Hanzo offered his old student a bag of gold for the contract, which Goemon readily agrees to. Seeking vengeance for his murdered lord, Goemon infiltrated Lord Hideyoshi's castle, where he killed Lord Hideyoshi and discovered Princess Chacha. Startled by another person entering, Goemon hid himself in the ceiling of Chacha's room, losing Chacha's fan as he did so. To Goemon's surprise, the real Hideyoshi entered the room. Goemon had only killed his fake double. Suddenly, one of Lord Hideyoshi's guards discovered Goemon and shot him in the chest, blowing him out of the castle and into the moat. Later, Goemon was secretly rescued and recovered by Saizo.
Goemon was then contacted by Hanzo, who took him to a waterfall to meet Chacha. The princess had come to bid him farewell and returned the fan as she had reluctantly agreed to become Hideyoshi's concubine. Afterwards, Lord Tokugawa arrived to ask Goemon to assassinate Hideyoshi in order to save Chacha and the country. Elsewhere, Lord Mitsunari offered Saizo samurai status in return for killing Lord Hideyoshi. Goemon and Lord Tokugawa crafted a plan to assassinate Lord Hideyoshi during a celebration on his royal boat, but upon receiving his secret signal, Goemon changed his mind and did not complete the plan. Moments later, all of Lord Hideyoshi's escort ships were destroyed by explosives set by Saizo and his team; they captured Lord Hideyoshi and tried to assassinate him by hanging him from the ship's mast with a steel chain. Lord Mitsunari, believing Lord Hideyoshi to be dead, then turned on Saizo and shot him. However, Lord Hideyoshi survived the assassination attempt and Saizo survived the gunshot wound. Lord Hideyoshi, unaware of Lord Mitsunari's betrayal, interrogated Saizo and threatened to kill Saizo's family unless he revealed who hired him.
Meanwhile, Goemon tried to rescue Chacha, but because Lord Hideyoshi was still alive, she refused to leave. Later, against Sasuke's warnings, Goemon rescued Saizo from prison. Unfortunately, Lord Mitsunari killed Saizo's wife in reprisal and left a note on her body telling Saizo he had taken Saizo's child. Saizo was later recaptured and Lord Hideyoshi decreed Saizo should be boiled to death during an elaborate public execution. Hideyoshi told Saizo he would spare his child's life if he would reveal his name so he falsely identified himself as Goemon. Yelling in the huge crowd, Goemon tried to stop the execution but he could only watch in horror as Lord Hideyoshi kicked Saizo into the cauldron and then threw in the child. Sasuke, in shock over all of the carnage, blamed on Goemon and abandoned him.
With the help of Saizo's surviving team, Goemon stormed through the palace and eventually reached Lord Hideyoshi. Goemon wanted to know why Lord Hideyoshi had betrayed Lord Nobunaga. Hideyoshi explained it was his insatiable hunger for power that had driven him and Goemon eventually killed him. With Hideyoshi dead, there was a power vacuum that the strongest fought for. Tokugawa and Mitsunari raised their own armies to decide who would be the next ruler of Japan; but Goemon, tired of all the deaths and suffering, decided to intervene.
Goemon charged into the battle, wearing Lord Nobunaga's armor and carrying the repaired double-bladed sword. The armies were fearful and confused as they saw the crimson armor of Nobunaga. Goemon fought through the armies until he confronted and killed Mitsunari during a solar eclipse. Superstitious over the eclipse, Mitsunari's army fled in fear. Goemon then charged through Tokugawa's army, but Hattori Hanzo appeared and intercepted him mid-way. Goemon immobilized his former master by pinning Hanzo's foot to the ground with a broken sword blade. Approaching Tokugawa, Goemon closed the distance seemingly with apparent intent to kill, but was intercepted by Sasuke (who had joined Tokugawa's army). Mortally wounded by Sasuke, Goemon staggered and it was revealed that he was only holding Chacha's fan; instead of trying to kill Tokugawa, Goemon only planned to get him to promise that there would finally be peace and then leave. Goemon tries to make his way back to Chacha, but falls to the ground from his wounds. In his final moments, he admires the fireflies and stars while Chacha cries, never to see Goemon again.

Tags: depressing

Review:
I rather hate those movies that pack the trailer with best they have and then there's nothing left than those 30 seconds of glory.A pity I can't talk about the story to avoid spoilers, at this time I would just explain why it was excellent for me:*the way Kiriya re-wrote this little piece of history and made a great thing out of it and one worth watching in a movie.*it has anything that a blockbuster shall have but keeps a pure and decent heart and yes, done at an extremely low budget under one million $.*the CG is (in my opinion) not intended to look like Iron Man Hollywood stuff but rather like Final Fantasy and I really hope people not being snobs about this because this is not the point.
Besides, I never felt that the CG isn't good or not good enough, I didn't even feel it was a CG because the story moves on so fast and takes you in its stream, you don't have the time or need to think twice.*there are no gaps and goofs or illogical actions in the story line*the style is very solid: the mix of Asian/Western costume design or architecture is continuous through the entire movie and nothing looks like a mistake or an accident or bad taste.
The mix of true historical elements and modern elements (dance, etc) keeps things real while traditional elements (like the firefly) constantly remind us it's also a fairy tale that we are watching.*you will get to see all martial arts you would dream of and better than that though you will not get tired with repetitive & unnecessary war/fight scenes.*the cinematography is amazing at all times thanks to the elaborate costumes and architecture but the way that camera moves is one of the best new things too.*all actors match their roles, great casting and especially the lead actor Eguchi Yosuke is so universally good, he could stand right next to Johny Depp in let's say Pirates of the Caribbean and be as good at it.
Hirosue Ryoko is also a wise choice and quite familiar to us from her earlier international hit Wasabi or the recent Academy Awards winning "Departure"(Okuribito)Last I shall say, I'm not that much into (Japanese) directors trying rather desperately to impress the (Western) world through their forced/artsy/bloody/cruel/avant-garde/decadent/sexual stuff, I think a nicely shot good story is what we all badly need and this is the hardest part of it to get a thing that will improve human race.
"Legend of Goemon" reminded me of of "Casshern", that movie was also directed by Kazuaki Kiriya.
The movie is a feast for the eyes from the beginning till the end, and superior to Casshern in acting, music, story and character-development.Also, the budget of this movie was a mere 9 million dollars!!!
"Ninja Assassin", from last year, made in Hollywood, was produced on a 40 million dollar budget and is a lesser movie in all areas compared to "Legend of Goemon".I totally agree with all the positive reviews of this movie and want to only mention that if you're looking for a live-action anime kind of movie and you like moveis with lots of ninja-action you MUST watch legend of Goemon as soon as possible!.
On the other side of the coin, Lord of the Rings, though amazing for its depiction of monsters and creatures of the imagination, ultimately had the purpose of bring THEM into OUR world.GOEMON, like Casshern, is an attempt to bring us into another world, similar to our own but in so many ways, different.
The vitality of the film is its lust for a life of its own and, its characters, while largely archetypal, serve the mythic aspects the story perfectly, because that is what myths are made of.GOEMON is a film that shouldn't be weighed against standards set outside its context.
This fantastic tale of Goemon, a master-less shinobi turned master-thief, is a compelling action drama, with some genuinely funny light-hearted moments.Like a mixture of Batman and Robin Hood, Goemon is a man unto himself, and a national hero.
He lives by his own rules until his self-proclaimed freedom meets his past, and one robbery starts a chain of events set to turn his life upside down.It's a great story of vengeance and betrayal, and if you add that to some great acting by the leads Yôsuke Eguchi (Goemon), and Takao Osawa (Saizo), and put it all through the beautifully shot stylings of Japanese cinema, you get this enthralling piece.Only a couple of clichés in plot development and editing stop me from scoring the film higher, but with such minor faults, I couldn't recommend it more!.
I watched this movie without any expectation, but I have to say, this is one of best movies I ever saw.Japanese traditions and feelings, samurai history, epic battles and yes, a lot of lies with not so good special effects, but it really doesn't matter.The movie starts a little slow, it has almost 130 minutes long, and could be resumed to 100 easily.
Helmed with a bold fresh eye for visuals by Casshern director Kiriya Kazuaki, Goemon is a multi-layered historic action epic tinged with fantasy and impressive swordplay.
With elements of Western legends such as Robin Hood and the mythical Pandora's Box thrown in, Goemon is ultimately the story of one man's battle with his need to be free and his destiny.The film perhaps would've been better in two parts, or even as a trilogy, to allow time to completely unlock each integral character's own story and ambitions.Goemon is a stunning visual treat, but too convoluted in essential plot points.
After all, that's the only feature film he had done since, and it comes with plenty of CG used to create backdrops which no longer existed, and effects used to overload the senses, making what's on screen seem very much like a computer generated comic book, with characters possessing superhuman prowess that are of course second nature since nothing is impossible in the virtual world.
I had the opportunity to view this film on board an airplane, but it's a good thing I held out in the hopes that it'll make it to the big screen here, since Kiriya brings back the same technical formula for the telling of his tale of legendary ninja bandit Goemon Ishikawa.Played by Yosuke Eguchi in the titular role, the folklore of Goemon is just like that of Robin Hood, where a man of nobility becomes the bandit of the land, robbing the rich and distributing the wealth obtained to the poor to ensure the narrowing of the rich-poor divide.
This of course allows Kiriya to heap on loads of artistic license in his tale, which is relatively complete with an origin story, political intrigue, a romance and plenty of fight sequences which will make the action junkie in you whoop for joy.Which of course is the mainstay for anyone who's watching this.
If there's a minor gripe, then it'll be moments where such powers get forgotten, which of course helps the narrative at its convenience, otherwise we'll be faced with an indestructible superman that will make it rather boring.Themes of friendship, loyalty, betrayal and vengeance become staple in this period fantasy film, especially when we learn of Goemon's allies, which include his ninjitsu peer Saizo, played by Takao Osawa whom I thought resonated more with the story given the plight he got put through.
Also, the episode with Saizo highlights how Kiriya focused a little more on the emotional aspects of the characters involved in its more dramatic moments, and the writer-director's knack of fusing together historical events (such as the Battle of Sekigahara and the ascension of the Ieyasu Tokugawa) and personnel into the narrative, making it a richer experience for the audience, and lending itself some grandeur in terms of epicnessDespite clocking slightly over two hours, there are enough twists and turns here given changing loyalties, and supporting role appearances by other legendary characters such as Hattori Hanzo (Susumu Terajima) the famed swordsman.
Ryoko Hirosue has a flower vase role here as the love interest of Goemon who decided to do a noble thing of being sacrificed as a concubine of the deranged warlord, but does little else other than to continue reminding Goemon how infatuated he is with her.The initial moments do require some getting used to as the visuals are built upon CG created landscapes, but it'll soon build on you that without which a film like this could probably not be easily made.
It's Kazuaki Kiriya's signature visual style, and I had enjoyed Goemon very much so when it found some balance between its action scenes, and its dramatic moments.
I will always remember the part of goemon buro, as the story took a complete twist from the real history which kiriya and Osawa hugly impress me for this part onwards.Neverless i will be also waiting to get a blueray verion of this for the parts which impress me and Osawa acting on this.
Horrible, Boring and Stupid.Horrid sets not out of place from a '50s technicolor yuchfest, squallid costumes, pointless dialogue, monodimentional characters (this fault is almost made up by the abundance of pointless supporting), bad CGI - that alone often spells death from a martial arts action flick, and Goemon is nothing more - soppy story and truly dreadful acting, make this horrible piece of filmcraft easily comparable with Transfomers 2: easy to see how it must have cost a lot to make, and almost impossible to see how it could have been made with no redeeming qualities whatsoever.The film takes the legendary character of Goemon Ishikawa and ..
"Goemon" was a movie that I had really looked forward to watching, after having found it by sheer luck on Amazon and then read reviews about it.And having seen it now, I feel somewhat disillusioned.
There is a lot of levels to the story, and also a really great plot that offers some nice surprises along the way.As for the people cast for the movie, well they did great jobs with their characters and they put on good acting performances.
However, the Japanese friend I saw the movie with only did slightly better at following the interchangeable characters and convoluted storytelling.*The acting was so-so.
but don't look him up just yet or you may ruin the plot.If you don't like fantasy-style ninja films then there's not much point watching this, because it's wire-fu tripped out on CGI - which, admittedly, was a little jarring at first, but the style thankfully soon grows on the viewer.As for the story itself, the eponymous master thief ninja steals something along with gold intended for peasants, which kick starts just over 2 hours of political intrigue and high octane action...
so, since I love ninjas and action, why the medium score?I won't fault the CGI because otherwise, the film could not have been fully realised, but I can see how it would turn many off; the characters and their history with one another all works well and developments are - for the most part - well written, however, there are certain aspects that just don't add up (I shan't mention them now to spoil the film) and the ending simply doesn't make sense.Yes, it's worth watching Goemon for the experience, but don't expect it to become your new favourite (ninja) film, and expect to be more than a little miffed and confused when the end credits role..
Goemon came as a fairly pleasant surprise.Yes, it's incredibly effect & CGI heavy, but that's fine, because it's very obviously an art film and works entirely within its own context.
i have to say, i was very disappointed.i expected another beautiful and complex movie with philosophical aspects with less cgi shortcomings than casshern that warrants at least a rating of 9/10 but unfortunately, that is not what goemon delivers.instead, what we have here is a mix of something like azumi and house of the flying daggers with mostly just superficial hints of casshern.
goemon is basically yet another martial arts epic that adds only little to the genre.usually, if a martial arts film just amuses me, i rate it 8/10, if it has incredible style too, 9/10 and 10/10...
characters and the overall story felt a little deeper to me than what usually goes on in such movies but it is still nowhere near casshern.
i think one of the main reasons for that are the comical characters that are way overused for a movie that carries a serious atmosphere most of the time.
if you maybe don't even know casshern and you expect an amusing martial arts epic you might be disappointed because of some sluggish cg work and might be annoyed with what happens at about two thirds of the movie but you will still get plenty of nice entertainment and a little more depth than usual.
If you are in the right mood, this is a really entertaining, action packed ninja movie that has almost everything a fan of this genre could want.
The action sequences are among the most thrilling I have ever seen in a martial arts flick and Goemon's double bladed katana sword engraved with the emperors Stamp "spread militarism across the land", is one of the coolest ninja weapons ever seen in a movie.
Goemon is the movie that make me see Japanese film industry in a different angles cause back when I was young in my mind a stunning big budget movie that heavily on the special effects can only pull off by none other than Hollywood so to see a epic ninja movie that look like an anime movie or to be more accurate:"The longest game cutscene ever" is pretty mind blowing at the time.When I look back at Goemon now in 2018 the special effects definitely look dated and sometime laughable but the move itself still an over the top ride with all kind of cool stuff so check it out.
Certainly the DVD cover, the IMDb description, and the first 15-20 minutes of the film fulfills that expectation: we get a lot of action sequences following our hero Goemon, the legendary 16th century Japanese Robin Hood character, as he performs rapid fire feats of martial arts & agility that would make Superman turn in his cape.
(Aside: we'll talk about the controversial cgi in a minute, let's focus on story first.)But what begins as a seemingly predictable comic book tale of good vs evil becomes a much more complex epic saga, as characters' loyalties and motivations change, as secrets are revealed, and as the characters themselves evolve and question their own actions, showing us that this is far more than a mindless good vs.
Here in "Goemon" we have a similar hyper-stylized look that's not necessarily supposed to seem realistic, and that could be a plus or a minus depending on how you like your flicks.The bottom line is that the story and character development, not the look, is what really impressed me about "Goemon".
While this gives Goemon a unique look quite different from the bold colors and elegant action of many modern martial arts epics, it also makes the movie look frantic and artificial.
Look, if you're not into science fiction, just stay away from it forever.About Goemon, well it's a folk hero who is kind of the Japanese equivalent of Robin Hood, there was a bunch of video games based on his ninja skills as well.Just like I loved Casshern, I loved Goemon and if you really don't get the story, then you don't have any imagination in you and you should remain in the boring reality based films instead..
If you take some comic book styling, in the tradition of 300 or Sin  City, computer game imagery, massive CGI set pieces, love and lots of  violence, you have Goemon.
(I might have missed a few details here, like I said it was some time ago that I watched it, but that's really the gist of it.) Then we have the action scenes.
As someone who had enjoyed reading up on the Azuchi–Momoyama period a lot, I was eager to watch this film as soon as I saw that trailer to see how the writing would go in regards to the Hideyoshi conspiracy theory and Goemons death.And they handled it very well.Seeing the characters handled as they were in comparison to the real life counterparts was for the most part spot on and the little differences are excusable as they add to the character developmentThe acting is very good (Note: I do not speak Japanese but I am basing this off body language and voice tone)The only thing I can imagine that would put people off is the below average special effects.
But I can look past that when comparing it to the low budget this thing and the questionable amount that actually went into the effects.If you are looking for something with a lot of action, I recommend it.If you are wondering how they can take a real story and tell it with another approach, you may enjoy what they have come up with.If you want to see how good a film can be on an extremely low budget, then I more then recommend this because I was blown away at such a sight..
"GOEMON" trailer looked really cool, so I had a very high expectation from this movie, but as with "CASSHERN", I was disappointed by disastrous CG and atmosphere of this film.CG was absolutely horrible even in Japanese standards.
I especially liked the execution of "fake" Goemon with boiling pot, which explains the disputed cause of Goemon's death.The action and CG in this film are plain stupid, but the historical context and the ideas of this movie were very enjoyable for me..
Goemon is the second film from Kazuaki Kiriya, a visionary young Japanese director whose first film was the epic sci-fi fantasy Casshern.
Goemon is a mix of fantasy, history and martial arts action, albeit with a hyper real sensibility.