Rating: 
Summary: Didn't like it
Review: Since I liked The magnificent Seven, I had long for this movie for a long time. The time had come and I was totally bored. Who says this is the greatest movie and Kurosawa is the greatest movie maker? Picking up one would be very difficult but probably I will pick Godfather instead. I know there are many Kurosawa admirers but I always found his directing is kind of 'clumsy', weird pace-not smooth, over the top acting (here, esp. Mifune...a clown). I hate his black/white shooting although I love Black/White filmes. Yojimbo was the only movie I enjoyed from his movies. Too bad...
Rating: 
Summary: This classic should be given six or seven stars!
Review: This movie is justly hailed as one of the great movies of all time. The story is wonderful, the acting is fine, the music is moody and appropriate, and the photography is fabulous in adding to the drama and emotion of the story. And though it is 3 hours and 27 minutes in length, it doesn't feel long. The time is used for interesting character development and to enrich the story by connecting us with the characters and their struggles. Just compare the richness of this film with "The Magnificent Seven" and you will have to admit that the remake, while good, is inferior largely because of the cuts that needed to be made to keep the movie to two hours.The misery of the villagers and loneliness of the samurai are palpable. The small and dusty village aches of poverty and desperation and the samurai always seem aware that they are a feared necessity to the farmers and will never be accepted or even justly thanked. The bandits are a mass force of nature about to once again take everything from the farmers but their lives. We don't get to know any of them beyond the way they dress and this mass energy makes them even more threatening and fearsome. After being beaten down by the bandits for so long, the farmers decide, at least tentatively, to fight or die. The old man of the village sends them to the city to recruit hungry but strong samurai. The recruitment scenes are a classic in introducing us to seven heroes and their varying characters. When the samurai arrive at the village and no one comes to greet them we see the beginning of the fracture and the residual fear of the peasants. The fortification of the village and the training of the farmers for battle add to the rich character development of the movie. There is even a wonderful scene on the harvest before the fields are flooded. Can you imagine the luxury such a scene in a Hollywood film? But it adds so much to our understanding of these characters that it is worth the extra time and more. Then comes the first skirmish quickly followed by the three amazing battles and the nights between. The camera work here keeps us breathless with the speed at which the fighting happens. The camera work keeps it all close and personal. Pain, fear, anguish, and courage fill the frame throughout these unforgettable scenes. There is so much to talk about in this movie that these little reviews are really not enough. This is a fabulously restored disk with a few extras (but who cares - it is this wonderful movie that makes the disk worth everything). "Seven Samurai" is a movie I never tire of watching and always lets me find new things to enjoy. Amazing.
Rating: 
Summary: Criterion Collection Seven Samurai
Review: Undoubtedly one of the greatest movies of all times in virtually every knowledgeable reviwer's list, the Criterion Collection's Seven Samurai DVD is without a doubt the finest version available with English Subtitles. If you are fluent in Japanese, however, and own a code-free DVD player you may want to consider the new Toho Studio's production, which is part of their "The Kurosawa Masterworks Collection"(sic). It is also available separately. Toho digitally remastered the originals for best sound and image, but this version has only Japanese subtitles.
Rating:
Summary: One of the great films of all-time
Review: Seven Samurai is a classic movie directed by Akira Kurosawa that is a simple story, but ends up being much, much more. Set in early 16th Century Japan, the story begins with a small farming village discovering that when their crops grow, a gang of bandits will attack the village and steal the harvest. The village patriarch recommends they hire samurai to protect the village. They meet Kambei, who organizes a group of six other samurai together to fight all of them with their own reason for fighting. The samurai teach the villagers how to fight while also preparing a defense plan for when the bandits return. This is a great movie that never slows down. Even at 207 minutes, the movie flies by never wasting a second to show or tell something important. You can see the motivations behind the samurai as well as the fear of the villagers as they prepare for the upcoming battle with the bandits. The action scenes are truly extraordinary. Years before Sam Peckinpah used slow motion in The Wild Bunch, Kurosawa uses it early in the movie during two swordfights, both of which show the pointlessness of the violence. The attack by the gang of bandits is remarkably done, especially the final battle as the rain pours down on the villagers and the bandits. The great Japanese star Toshiro Mifune plays Kikuchiyo, the samurai who wants to prove that he is better than his roots as a simple farmer, the same people he is defending. He has one very funny scene when the bandits arrive as he taunts their arrival. Takashi Shimura is fantastic as Kambei, the noble leader of the samurai who organizes them and helps to keep them together during the battle. Shichiroji, the courageous fighter and builder, is played by Daisuke Kato. Isao Kimura plays Katsushiro, the young, unproven samurai who falls in love with a girl in the village. Minoru Chiaki is Heihachi, the samurai who may not have the best ability, but enjoys keeping the others happy with his jovial manner. Seiji Miyaguchi plays Kyuzo, the expert swordsman who always tries to perfect his craft. Yoshio Inaba stars as Gorobei, Kambei's right hand man who is deadly with a bow. The Criterion Collection DVD is well worth the purchase. It offers the theatrical trailer, restored picture and sound, and also commentary by Japanese film expert Michael Jeck. This is a true classic that must be seen to be fully enjoyed. Just writing about it does not do justice to how good this movie really is. Do not miss!
Rating:
Summary: Great
Review: This is one of the very few movies that qualifies as a great work. At 3.5 hours in length, containing a large number of interesting characters, a powerful plot, and brilliant cinematography, this movie has the complexity and impact of a great 19th century novel. Kurosawa's great theme, which emerges in several of his other films, is the clash of traditions precipitated by social change in the anarchy of 16th century Japan. This theme is confronted in various ways in scenes of remarkable humanity. The acting in this movie is tremendous with memorable performances by the whole cast and truly great performances by all the major leads. This film, made almost 50 years ago, is unsurpassed by anything made since then.
Rating: 
Summary: What a waste of time
Review: This movie is slow. It doesn't make any sense.
Rating:
Summary: this is why you love film
Review: A film like Seven Samurai is what makes you buy a dvd player, or begin to appreciate foreign film. Kurosawa is an auteur, a director whose vision so saturates the film that it becomes indistinguishable from that vision; no one else could have made the film. But if you imagine a Kurosawa film made by Hitchcock or Bergman, it will also enable you to see what makes Kurosawa so special. In this timeless tale of struggles between the weak and the powerful, Kurosawa gives us a situation utterly dynamic. Everything is in motion. The wind is blowing. The rain is not just falling but drenching everything. And Toshiro Mifune is hypermanic. Intense realism in a true jidai-geki, or historical film, was the goal of Kurosawa when he set out to make Seven Samurai, a film in which desperate villagers enlist the services of ronin, or masterless samurai, to protect them from a group of returning bandits. Throughout the film, from beginning to end, you feel this story could really have happened, and yet at the remove of history, you can see that these people and these struggles are similar to our own. At the same time, Kurosawa is a consummate artist -- his eye for beautifully framed and dynamic shots is breathtaking, and it's awesome to be able to rewatch scenes using a dvd player, or easily skip ahead to a particular scene, or view the spectacular action sequences in slow motion or at a drop-gorgeous standstill. Kurosawa seems to effortlessly incorporates compelling narrative with universal themes while making a stunning visual masterpiece. And there is humor too. Kurosawa also wanted to make entertaining films, and he succeeded. Hitchcock said that fiilming in black-and-white had achieved such a level of artistry that it was a shame color became a possibility (and indeed he chose to film Psycho in b&w even though color had become commonplace at the time), and you won't find a better composed or lit black-and-white film than Seven Samurai. All of the actors are terrific, but Toshiro Mifune is transcendant as the buffoon with a story that is revealed layer by layer throughout the film. He is the embodiment of comedy and tragedy, and Mifune's talents are on display and such a joy to watch. The film is nearly three-and-a-half hours long, but at the end of it you will be sorry it's over. Watch it again while listening to the excellent 1988 commentary track by Japanese film expert Michael Jeck, who does a masterful voiceover, discussing the film's production, Kurosawa's technique and biography, film history and theory, Mifune's style, actors careers and lives, musical themes, and a host of other interesting details. You'll learn that Kambei, the inspirational samurai leader, is played by Takashi Shimura, who also played the head scientist in Godzilla; that when the studio shut down production -- twice -- because it was running over budget, Kurosawa went fishing, confident that the studio was in too deep to cancel the project; that Kurosawa was the first director to show a film in which a team is assembled for a mission, or that shows an attacking horde as it rises on the horizon. It will make you want to watch the film a third time. But what a tragedy not to have a director's commentary track! Seven Samurai will change the way you think about film, and this Criterion Collection print is crisp and clean and sounds beautiful. There is also a trailer and a handy index to the commentary. The enclosed pamphlet includes a short but interesting undated essay by film critic Davd Ehrenstein. If you are at all interested in expanding your appreciation of film, you must see this brilliant tale of life and virtue as told by a genius at visual storytelling. If you want to learn more about non-Western film, this should be one of the first seven that you see. And if you already have the film but love it dearly, you should get this print; it's very clean and the commentary track will add to your enjoyment.
Rating:
Summary: Classic film enhanced by DVD release
Review: This movie is an all time classic. It can be viewed as a straight action movie, but has many subtleties that reward repeated watching: there's a subtext on how being a Samurai is more than just being a warrior, there are complex relationships between all the major farmer and Samurai characters, there are illustrations of how the Samurai, farmers, and bandits all shaped each other in 16th century Japan, and much more. While the movie is substantially longer than the typical Hollywood release, there's enough going on that it never drags. The DVD version has a substantially cleaner and better picture than the VHS tape version in almost all scenes. Because the movie is black and white, making the DVD video compression more efficient, the entire three and a half hour movie fits onto one disc. The original was not a wide screen release, so the full screen edition captures the entire picture from the original. If you have a DVD player, the DVD version is definitely worth the extra few bucks. If you don't have a DVD player, you might consider buying one just to watch this movie.
Rating:
Summary: Brilliance
Review: This is one of the best movies ever made. I sat through the three hour length reading the subtitles and it seemed to go by too quickly, it was so entertaining
Rating:
Summary: Not for the modern movie goer
Review: Seven Samuri is a great movie, but it shows it's age. Classic but not really standing well against time. The action scenes are good if you don't pay attention to the details in what seems to be a lack of skill for these Samurai. Many things are taken for granted and not explored, such as the skill of the Samurai and the plight of the farmers. I am a modern movie goer and in an attempt to see where the movies of today were spawned from, I watched this movie. I was disappointed on some levels, but impressed on others. It isn't what you think, but it still gives you something you didn't think you would find. If you think you can sit through a three and half hour movie that does not concern itself much with pace, you should watch it.
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