Seven Samurai (1954)
The blade doesn’t cut deep for this Japanese epic.
Presentation:
As far as epics go, this classic absolutely fits the bill. The amount of people that can fit on the screen is impressive and you always have a sense of movement and action in each scene particularly due to Japanese sensibilities of animated personalities. The film follows a group of samurai hired to protect a village from bandits. Despite having a 3 hour runtime, samurai recruitment scenes aren’t strong with some characters lacking development. The farmers’ backstory is interesting, but each part doesn’t feel masterfully fleshed out nor presented compared to future Japanese filmmakers.
Conclusion:
There’s a reason a Japanese film has critical acclaim even for the west. It’s a marvel of epic storytelling particularly for 1954, but it’s doesn’t translate as well today compared to similar action epics. As blasphemous as it sounds, there even exist more polished animes from Japan like Samurai Champloo, which makes this film underwhelming once you realize how the samurai end protecting the farmers. You are kinda expecting more sword slinging, epic duels and showdowns, but iconic Japanese swordplay has not yet been developed yet here. Action is noticeable fake and unconvincing, which is acceptable for the time but ultimately not immersive if you watch in 2024. The story is just okay, but I think future Japanese stories overshadow this classic making it not as relevant.
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Recommendations
Animated storytelling perfected.