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Summary: The best copy yet!!
Review: What really stands out in this edition offered by Criterion is the excellent narration. You can either watch movie on its own or you can choose to watch the film while learning about the history of cast and crew, set design, editing and camera techniques. It was a brilliant addition to an already phenomenal film.
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Summary: A Classic
Review: Although vastly different than the asian cinema I usually watch (Jet-Li, Bruce Lee), Seven Samurai still held my interest throughout the entire film.
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Summary: 2 Words .... Cinematic Masterpiece
Review: This movie is beautifully shot , even(and especially) the battle scenes .Kurosawa's Japanese countryside looks more like Tolkiens Middle Earth than Japan(hear that P. Jackson?) ... The movie is 3 and a half hours long but flies by way too fast...This movie is awesome . ...God bless Kurosawa and God bless Kentucky!
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Summary: The chicken of the Egg?
Review: Let me set anyone who thinks that Seven Samurai is a remake of Magnificent Seven... IT'S NOT! It's the other way around. I read someone else's review on there who stated it was the other way around. Akira Kurosawa's movies were the inspiration for many a western... Seven Samurai - Magnificent Seven, Yojimbo - A Fist Full of Dollars, to name two. So, to anyone who goes around saying that American films are never inspired by foreign films, your wrong. Take some time to see a few of these great films for yourself. As for Seven Samurai, I can't say much other that it's perfect. Three hours feel short with this epic. There is not a moment wasted. Each event has effects on other events in the film. There is more character development in Samurai than in the Magnificent Seven, so already that's a plus. Magnificent Seven is a good movie, but I think it pales in comparison to the original. Back to Samurai... I love the movie because it has wonderful character development, but also a lot of action. The last hour of this movie is as action packed as any movie. Yet, there's a moral to the story. In short, Seven Samurai is an incredible film that makes you wonder, how is it that more movies don't try for the same excellence. And, don't pass up other Akira Kurosawa films. He was a wonderful film maker who made some incredible movies. "Ikiru," in my opinion, is his masterpiece. But, like all great artists, he had more than one masterpiece. Don't miss "High and Low," "Yojimbo," or "Rashomon," as well as his other movies.
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Summary: Gorgeousness at its most gorgeous
Review: This movie is so masterful I don't even think I need to say anything about it. The characters, the plot, the trials of this characters is such a poignant expression that I just can't explain why this movie has the power that it does. There's such an exuberant wisdom saturated through the characters, and they have such an aura of modest greatness. I just can't help remembering the ending, when one of the samurais compares the losses of their battle to the joy of the farmers, and he says that he and the other samurais are the losers (though they won the battle), it is the farmers who have won. Beautiful.
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Summary: I can see why it's a "classic"
Review: I bought this for my husband after he told me it was one of his favorite movies of all time. I understand it was very advanced for the time it was released, and the story is pretty interesting (to guys especially, it seems), but it might be the type of movie you have to watch in several sittings--it's 3 hours of samurai. He LOVED it though, and couldn't believe it was on DVD!
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Summary: The best "sushi-western" ever made!
Review: A long and brilliant movie, "The seven samurai" is the best example of an odd genre: japanese movies based on american westerns, long before the "spaguetti western"!. But this movie it's much more than a action movie about good samurai against bad people, it's a movie about social problems and class contradictions: a group of jobless and hungry samurai (certainly a middle class in shogun's Japan) are comitted to defend a small peasant's village, from the inminent attack of bandits, in exchange of meager meals; it's very interesting to see all peculiarities of such complex relationship, evolving to a situation were only one group will claim victory.
Besides it's a movie with direction, Akira Kurosawa bringing home such a brilliant story without "holes"; with actors, Toshiro Mifune, one of many in the movie, in one of his best roles, as a "truly" samurai; with scenes, the rural Japan; and sounds, the upcoming bandit's horses raiding into the village.
Buy this movie, without a doubt, and you'll have more than a classic, you'll have a good and entertaining movie.
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Summary: Believe the hype. One of the best films of all time.
Review: I probably watch this film once a month. Every detail that defines superb film making is addressed in this masterpiece: story, character development, drama, humor, action... the list goes on and on. Also, the acting by Toshiro Mifune is some of his best work. And, like all of Kurosawa's films, the compositions of images on screen is flawless. His eye for visuals is one of the very best. Although 3+ hours long, the movie flies by. Required viewing for any one who enjoys classic films, foreign, samurai flicks, or just plain quality.
Rating:
Summary: Seven Samurai
Review: This is one of, if not the best of Kurosawa's films. The "original" Magnificent Seven is an action packed yet philisophical film. Not only is the film it self one of the most important movies ever made, but this is Mifune's greatest role of all time. His bumbling, loud mouthed Samurai makes for a strange hero. As I look back each time from watching the movie, I see more attributes of his character that make him so unique. This film belongs in every home library of every movie lover.
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Summary: Incredible!!!
Review: Wow, Criterion has done it again. What a great package. First off, the movie is phenonmenal. If you see the movie, you will want a copy of it. If you see this collection, you will want it. The commentary is first rate, with lots of interesting behind the scenes information. The fact that you can listen to the commentary while reading the subtitles is a great bonus. If you have never seen the movie, I don't think you will be disappointed if you give it a try.
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