Seven Samurai (1954)

Director: Akira Kurosawa

Starring: Toshirô Mifune, Takashi Shimura, Keiko Tsushima

Farmers from a village exploited by bandits hire a veteran samurai for protection, and he gathers six other samurai to join him.

I’ve long since wanted to see ‘Seven Samurai’ but always put it off due to its long running time. I finally decided to watch it this holiday season. Although I’m a bit disappointed, I’m glad I finally watched it. It is, however, a film I won’t be watching again, and will also be reluctant in recommending it – especially to the new generation.

‘Seven Samurai’ is the kind of film that must have been epic at the time of release, but that will loose its appeal over time. The biggest drawback is its length (3 hours 27 minutes!). The film is also very slow paced. There are too many unnecessary scenes and this could have been remedied with shorter takes, and cutting out all the trivial moments. Had it been shorter, it would have been faster paced and more enjoyable to watch. (It could easily have been at least an hour shorter.)

When farmers overhear bandits planning to steal their barley, they turn to Old Man for advise. Old Man – the wisest and oldest member of the community – suggests hiring a Samurai and to go into battle with the bandits. One day when a bandit takes a child hostage, a samurai named Kambei Shimada poses as a monk, and saves the day.

The farmers convince Kambei to help them in their fight against the bandits, and he in turn asks help from another six samurai, including the somewhat eccentric Kikuchiyo. Kikuchiyo is wonderfully portrayed by Toshiro Mifune, who was also excellent in ‘Rashomon’). Kikuchiyo is by far the most interesting character; probably because he is so different to the others.

Most of the film revolves around the farmers and the samurai preparing for the battle. I was looking forward to this battle, but when this highly anticipated battle finally arrived, it was over in less than five minutes (!). Interestingly, there also wasn’t a prominent antagonist. In a film of this length, there should have been a more defined antagonist, like the leader of the bandits, for instance. A Showdown between said antagonist and Kikuchiyo would have been awesome. But alas, as mentioned, the climax was over in the blink of an eye…

It may sound like I’m criticizing the film, but make no mistake, I believe it was spectacular back in the day, but today’s audience might find it too slow, and possibly even boring. There are far better movies to watch nowadays.

In Japanese.

Would I watch it again? No.