Rating: 
Summary: Like an arrow through the neck...
Review: Kurosawa and Shakespeare and Criterion are a winning combination. With "Throne of Blood," Kurosawa strips Macbeth to the bare bones of plot, then packs on new flesh in the form of scheming ambition in feudal Japan. Criterion supplies the high-definition digital transfer/RSDL dual-layer edition and a host of enhancing extras.In this version, Washizu (Macbeth) is somewhat simple, and content with what comes his way, be it castle or fort, honor or deceit. His wife, the infamous Lady Macbeth, is chillingly calm and dangerous. She has no interest in her husband's contentment, and knows that the only way to advance her position is to advance the position of her husband, by whatever means necessary. Her role as the spider is particularly suited to the halls of the Cobweb Castle. The acting and filming are up to the quality that one expects from Kurosawa and Mifune. The pacing of the film is full of dynamic contrasts, going from heart-pounding action to patient silence. This film is not spoon-fed to you, but demands your concentration. The visuals are particularly stunning in "Throne of Blood." The cobweb forest is haunting, and the single weird sister, all in white spinning in a white cage, maintains the same chilling calmness of Washizu's wife. One of the many nice touches of "Throne of Blood" is the chance to see that Samurai at the height of their power. These are not the poor, struggling warriors of "Seven Samurai" or "Yojimbo." Washizu is decked out in full armor for the bulk of the film, and his castle is defended and attacked by well-dressed armies. Each lord is powerful and wields mighty forces. Oh, and of course, the big finish. All I can say is wow. Packed onto this DVD release, is an amazing display of DVD goodies. Criterion has mined the gems of Japanese film experts, with audio commentary by Michael Jeck, a new essay by Stephen Prince (The Warrior's Camera: The Cinema of Akira Kurosawa), and two alternative subtitle translations: a new version from renowned Japanese-film translator Linda Hoaglund, and Kurosawa expert Donald Richie, along with notes on subtitling by Hoaglund and Richie. A "must have," if ever there was such a thing
Rating: 
Summary: Sorry, this is so late...
Review: I`m a student from Nagoya International School and we watched this film "throne if blood" because we had been studying Macbeth in our English class.
I was little worried about the language of Shakespeare because Japanese is not so rich to translate the great Shakespearean language. But Kurosawa used a lot of filming techniques which coved the translation problem. I was amazed with the motif that Shakespeare established was still there in the Kurosawa`s film. But I was little sad because Kurosawa didn$B!G(Bt use three witches$B!D(BShakespearean Macbeth has lots to do with the number $B!H(Bthree$B!I(B. It was said to be the bad, unlucky number and Kurosawa only used only one mononoke, the evil spirit. I the reason might be because in Japan, number 3 does not have to do with bad, unlucky number. Kurosawa thought it might not be so important to use three witches, but to cut off the personnel expenses (laugh). I was shocked with these reasons but cultural difference cannot be help in any way.
I would like to recommend this film to any one who likes watching many series of Macbeth. At first, it might make you think, $B!H(Bu-mm$B!D(B I$B!G(Bm not interested in any Japanese film!$B!I(B but you are going to get a $B!H(Bshock$B!I(B because it is such a great and wonderful film. Concept of real Macbeth is not changed so who ever wants to get a real excitement, I think you should watch this film, or you are going to regret badly.(^_-)
Rating:
Summary: SaMuRaI MaCbEtH...
Review: I am a student at Nagoya International School in Japan. In our English Literature class, we had the opportunity to read and study one of Shakespeare's masterpieces "Macbeth". While viewing several versions of Macbeth in English, we also watched "Throne of Blood", a japanese version of Macbeth. While watching this film, I thought that the several rich Shakespearean language, techniques and interesting events in the story were going to be ruined, since the language was different and the setting was different. But after watching the film, my opinions changed completely. Kurosawa did a terrific job in analyzing the plot and information and changing it into a japanese fashion. The characters acted out their part showing their unique character just like in Macbeth, and the plot was almost the same as in the original Macbeth. An interesting thing I found was that, instead of using witches, Kurosawa used evil spirits. Insetad of knives, he used bows and arrows in his play. These little changes suited the japanese culture, and it was interesting and very entertaining. I was honestly amazed by this. To everyone who reads my film review, I really do reccomend this film, and hope that you do have a chance to compare the real Macbeth with "Throne of Blood". Its interesting similarities and differences will amaze you!
Rating:
Summary: Shakespeare = Kurosawa Akira "Throne of Blood"
Review: After watching and comparing several films of Macbeth acted by English, I found this film interesting. This film "Throne of Blood" was directed by one of the famous Japanese director Kurosawa Akira and is known as the Japanese version of Macbeth. When I first heard the existence of this film, I wondered how can a play written in English be acted in Japanese. The theme and the moral of Macbeth can only be expressed with the richness of the Shakespeare's word was my honest thought at the beginning. But after watching it, I was just amazed how the director converted the English lines into Japanese. He didn't take the English lines itself and just translated them into Japanese which a cheap director might do. He exactly knew the moral Shakespeare wanted to express in Macbeth and constructed a new series of lines in Japanese. Not only the lines were astonishing, also each shots in the scenes were just incredible. Some people might take the scenes to be slow pace and boring. But I take these slow pace scenes as one of the techniques the director used to convert the English lines to Japanese. There are too many techniques I can't mention at once used in this film. But this film is just incredible and is worth watching.
Rating:
Summary: Throne of blood ¿ Macbeth or not Macbeth?
Review: This was a very interesting way of representing Shakespeare's Macbeth.
Before I saw it I was skeptical that Shakespeare in any other language than English would be lacking.
I think that Kurosawa makes up for the lack of rich Shakespearean language with all kinds of interesting cinematic touches, such as the eerie white makeup he uses for the witch(es) and ghost(s). I also liked the camera angles used, even though many of the cuts were held too long.
Even though the overall plot was similar to Shakespeare's Macbeth there were one or two things that I feel made it a completely different story. Macbeth's motivation to kill the king was very different in Kurosawa's version. I think the fact that Washizu (Macbeth) tells his army about the witch(es) radically changes the overall ending.
Rating:
Summary: Thumbs Up for Kurosawa!!!
Review: I am a junior in Nagoya Int'l School, Japan, and in my English class, we are currently studying Macbeth. We have seen four different versions of Macbeth, one of them was "Throne of Blood," from a talented Japanese director, Akira Kurosawa. At the end of the movie, I was amazed at how Kurosawa managed to tell his audience about the universal themes from Macbeth (eg: greed, ambitions, obsessions) through Japanese culture! It never crossed my mind to think about a tragic hero in my own culture, which is Indonesia. I wonder what makes Kurosawa wanted to reproduce Macbeth's play in his own culture...
Even though the language that he used is not as sophisticated as Shakespearean language and that he often 'bends' the conversation a little bit, but in the end it leads to the same climax as the original Macbeth's. In this movie, Lady Macbeth (Asaji) is the one that was the most striking because she looked really cold and evil. Perhaps it was her make up, but her conversation and the way she is, especially when she talks (she sits down on the wooden floor and keeps still, without moving much) scares me the most! She looked really dangerous somehow. Kurosawa succeeded in creating this kind of character for Asaji because at the beginning, it was her who dominates Washizu (Macbeth) to try and get what's been prophesied to him. It was her who led Macbeth to his own destruction later. I think Kurosawa is a brilliant man because he took the risk and in the end he produced a worth-to-watch movie, a classic one! What more can you ask???
Rating: 
Summary: Japanese Macbeth
Review: This movie really did surprised me.
I have watched 3 other 'Macbeth'
but this seemed incredible that is
was produced in all Japanese style.
Akira Kurosawa, who was the one of
famous producer, have made this movie
in many different ways which made us
interested in. Toshiro Mifune, the
Japanese Macbeth gives one of this
finest performance who is destroyed
by his wife's murderous greed and his
own allconsuming desire of poower.
From his first bloody battle- climax,
he turnes really greedy and mean.
Kurosawa's brilliant stage, the
Japanese setting and historic period
seem entirely appropriate. This new
style really made me enjoy but the
part that I didnt like was that it was
in black and white. If it was in color,
i would of enjoyed it more. But Im still
impressed in Akira Kurosawa, what he
have turned this movie to and the whole
idea of making this into Japanese style.
Rating:
Summary: Throne of Blood, the Japanese version of Macbeth
Review: I am a student at Nagoya International School. Japanese is my first language, but I have studied English in my International School. And I was fortunate to see "Throne of Blood" in my English literature class. After viewing the movie, I found Kurosawa's Japanese version of Shakespeare's Macbeth was a spectacular masterpiece. "Throne of Blood" altered the setting of the story, but still kept the atmosphere of the original Macbeth, which was set in Scotland. I was afraid that the Japanese language in the movie would spoil the rich Shakespearian language included in the film. But Kurosawa kept the theme of Macbeth alive in the film by modifying couple of characters and plots of the story. For example, because witches aren't familiar to the Japanese in the 16th century, they replaced the witch by an evil spirit, Mononoke. Also, Kurosawa excluded characters like Macduff. So in the movie, the Mononoke didn't give the prophecy of "Beware of Macduff" and "Be afraid of no women born". Other than that, virtually all of the plot and characters were the same as the original version of Macbeth. This exhibits the fact that Kurosawa has successfully managed to keep the mood and the theme of Macbeth alive in the film.
Rating:
Summary: video review
Review: In the English class I take, I read the original Macbeth which was written by Shakespeare. We watched several different versions of the play in this class. One of them was this version "Throne of Blood". Before watching this, I wondered how the director was going to express the rich Shakespearean language which is the main thing that makes his plays so fascinating in a totally different language, Japanese. As I watched this video, I felt that the director was very successful in expressing the themes and motifs that were used in the original version. The director had changed a lot of the sceneries and the plots, but the story seemed to flow very well and I believe that these changes were the keys to success in expressing and keeping the rich Shakespearean language.
I would strongly recommend this movie to people that have read the original Macbeth. It is very worthwhile to take time to watch this version. It may be even better if you are able to understand Japanese.
Rating:
Summary: Throne of Blood -Macbeth of Japan-
Review: Hi, Im a student at Nagoya International School (in Japan). And i am a Japanese citizen. Im a Jr at this school. My classmates and I are learning about Shakespear. And recently, we have been reading "Macbeth" for English class. There were many similarities with the Kurosawa production and Shakespear`s work. It seems as though Kurosawa have stolen the whole consept of the story because the whole idea was the same.But the thing is that there wasnt the "richness of Shakespear" in the Kurosawa`s movies. Instead, there was a great deal of beauty in the scenery, and how they used the fogs. As I have said there was no richness in thier words, the movie was good as the Shakespear`s work by the tone of the actor, had wonderful actors. But over all, i gave this movie a 4 because it was as good as Shakespear`s work but I disliked the way their lines were said too quickly for me to follow that was going on. As well as there were all of these extra scenery of Miki on a horse being lost in the fog for like a couple scenes.... quite a waste!! But over all,i guess its ok. I reccomend this movie to a foreign speaker (not Japanese) because you just have to follow the words. Being bilingual for the movie was not a good thing where the lines werent that accurate. Which made me a bit complicated where just listening them speak in Old Japanese was hard to follow as well.
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