Moustroll Good movie but grossly overrated

Console best movie i've ever seen.

FuzzyTagz If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

Brenda The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

Yashua Kimbrough (jimniexperience) Another superb collaboration between Kobayashi and Hashimoto (other being Harakiri) , attacking the samurai tradition, the contradictions behind the meaning of "honor", and hypocrisy of justice to high ranking feudal lords and stewards surrounding them. This movie takes place 1725 , during the Peace Era of Tokugawa after the disbandment of samurai clans. Samurai now resort to surveying the quiet landscape and testing their latest swords on straw dummies. Of course , the feudal lords also have a fetish for young women, and snatch them from villagers as they please .Ichi, one of the lord's finest mistress, and also the only to bear his child, has been banned from the empire for attacking the lord and his newest mistress (too proud to take the seat of unglory). The only reason Ichi put up with the abuse in the first place is she believed she'd be the last to pleasure the lord and protect all the little girls still growing in the village. She's been ordered to marry Isaburo Sasahara son, Yogoro. Isaburo was also forced to marry his wife, and wishes his son not to travel his path. He at first resist the lord's commands, but the son complies. Isaburo grows fond of his son's decision, fore the two fall in love with each other , much to the head-wife Suga spite. Isaburo retires from the clan, and makes Yogoro the new head master of the family (all according to a plan).Two years past and the lord orders Ichi to return back to the empire, and they son she beared passes away. Of course Yogoro resists, with Isaburo supporting his decision, vowing for bloodshed if he must part with his wife. Suga calls forth a Sasahara family gathering to sway Yogoro, but he only puts a target on his back for his "disobedience". Suga schemes a plan to get the youngest son Bunzo to trick Ichi on a chamberlain summoning. Upon summon, the council threatens if Ichi returns home to her husband, both he and the father will be ordered to commit seppuku.Ichi reluctantly returns to the empire. Enraged for the scheming of officials, Yogoro and Isaburo blackmail the officials to return Ichi at once or they'll take their case to the Supreme Shogunate Court of Edo (a scheme conjured up by Tatewaki, Isaburo's elder swordsman). Expecting the lord to retaliate, they spend the rest of their days in exile preparing for battle.After many failed attempts to reconciliate the tension, Steward Takahashi decides it'll be wise to show at the Sasahara family's home using Ichi as bait. If her and Yogoro disengage their wedding vows and divorce, and lord will let them live. Ichi, refusing to be a pawn in the lord's trickery, kills herself with one of the steward's bodyguard spear. All out war breaks loose, resulting in Yogoro, the steward, and 20 henchmen death. Isaburo, now a wanted man, takes his granddaugther and escapes to Edo. But first he must past his old sparring pal Tatewaki, the guard of the border. A long awaited duel to see who's the best ensues, and Isaburo wins ,, but the lord's army has caught up to the chase. A shootout happens in the high grass, resulting in Isaburo's death and another case of injustice quietly swept under the rug

WILLIAM FLANIGAN Viewed on DVD. Restoration = ten (10) stars; costumes = nine (9) stars; cinematography = eight (8) stars. Director Masaki Kobayashi has created a film comprising not much more than postures and posturing. (Even shots of a feudal lord's castle (only the top half is shown) look suspiciously like a collection of still-photo "postures"!) It is prodding and much too long. Actors/actresses seem trapped by the director's fixation on exquisite costumes worn in splendid settings (this is a black & white film that "cries out" for color) rather than having depth added to mostly cardboard, two-dimensional characters. The result is that little, if any, rapport with the audience is allowed to develop (except for the leading actor to some extent), and the viewer ends up with less than minimal interest in what happens to the protagonists. Kobayashi ends matters with what has got to be one of the longest (and silliest) action death scenes in the history of the cinema complete with way-over-the-top hammy acting by the lead actor. (Thank heavens (O-Kaga-Sama De!) for the fast-forward button on player remotes!) Cinematography (wide screen, black & white) is excellent and appears to be purposely dynamic (lots of zooming and tracking shots) to help counter the static nature of postured scenes. Deep-focus interior lighting is also outstanding. There is no film score. Instead, the sound track mostly consists of drumming ensembles complete with typical cries from the players (great performances, but a bit disconcerting). In case you may be wondering about the film's title as written in Romaji Japanese ("Joiuchi: Hairyou Tsuma Shimatsu"), it literally says nothing about Samurai or a rebellion; but this off-the-wall translation has come to be universally referred to as "Samurai Rebellion" (or "Rebellion"). Worth watching, but only with plenty of caffeine (and a fully functioning remote). WILLIAM FLANIGAN, PhD.

dr_foreman "Samurai Rebellion" is a feminist action movie. I find that almost unbelievable, since feminism and macho sensibilities usually don't go hand-in-hand, but here they blend together perfectly. That's what makes this film such a rewarding and unique viewing experience.I won't delve too much into the plot details, but suffice to say that the film concerns some rebellious samurai (as if you couldn't tell!) who are dedicated to protecting a wronged woman, the Lady Ichi. Thankfully, Lady Ichi is no cardboard character - she's as intelligent and passionate as she is beautiful, and her interactions with the samurai are fascinating. So, as the samurai fall in love with her and line up to protect her, the audience falls for her, too. I have to give a lot of credit to actress Yôko Tsukasa for making her character so sympathetic.The samurai are a strong point, too. The younger one, Yogoro, is played with sincerity and charisma by Takeshi Katô. And the older samurai, Isaburo, is played by that incomparable icon of Japanese cinema, Toshirô Mifune. When he's acting in Kurosawa films, I sometimes find Mifune a little hammy, but in this film he gives an extremely dignified and simply wonderful performance. (I particularly like his little laugh of disdain, which he unleashes when his superiors make unreasonable requests - "ho ho ho!") Of course, even the best actors in the world need the support of a strong director, and they've got that support here. Unlike Kurosawa, director Masaki Kobayashi doesn't add much Western-style "flair" to his movies; instead, his films (so far as I can tell) are more starkly beautiful and gradually paced. Some might argue that Kobayashi's style is actually a little dull, but I've been conditioned to slowly paced foreign films and I don't mind it a bit. In fact, I appreciate the way that Kobayashi builds up tension and then hits the audience with a really satisfying payoff.In short, everything about this movie works - the script, the actors, the design, the direction. It features a lovely romance, some cool (if stylized) action, and genuinely surprising plot twists. There's some explicit violence towards the end, too, but unlike most American films, "Samurai Rebellion" doesn't glorify combat. Fighting is depicted as a destructive last resort.I was perhaps being a little glib when I described the movie as feminist - a Western viewer might not recognize it as such - but it certainly does feature one of the strongest and most compelling female characters that I've encountered in a long time. For that reason alone, this is worth seeing. But the film's many other virtues are impressive, too, and have helped to propel "Samurai Rebellion" right to the top of my list of favorite movies.

GyatsoLa Musaki Kobayashi may be one of the lesser known names in Japanese film making, but this is no minor movie (I haven't seen his better known movies, Hari-Kiri or Kwaidan yet). For those seeing it without knowing a little about it, it will be a very surprising samurai flick - no action until the end, no real sub-plots - a script that is more like a domestic drama in its entire focus on a small group of people - a noble (if relatively low born) Samurai, his son and his daughter in law, formerly the mistress of the Clan Lord. The family are pushed to destruction as the pride of the three refuse to allow them to accept the unreasonable demands of their Lord and his scheming right hand men.While the movie doesn't have quite the flawless pacing, flowing editing and perfect black and white photography of some of the very best movies of the period, this is more than made up by the fantastic acting and gripping story. As always, Toshiro Mifune is magnetic in the lead, but all the parts are well filled. Kobayashi keeps a firm focus on the key story and admirably avoided the temptation to add the sort of sentimental sub plot that so many of this type of movie uses. The final scenes are magnificent.Kobayashi was something of a rebel himself - he refused promotion when a soldier in the war, and continually fought his studios so he could make movies on his favored theme - the injustice of the feudal system of Japan and the corruption of modern japan. The Japanese studio system has frequently been criticized for the way it tried to turn great film makers into hacks - but when so many great movies how can we complain? The sad thing is that this movie seems to have been one of the last of the great samurai films - after this the genre degenerated to simplistic chop-em-ups, with only a brief recent revival in movies like Twilight Samurai (which I suspect may have been influenced by this movie).