Seven Samurai

3 hours and 10 minutes long. How this movie never bored me, even for a second, is unbelievable. Looking back at it now, I can see just what an excellently made movie it was, especially for its time, but the beginning felt slightly off to me. My thoughts:

"Mmmkay, some guys are riding on horses. Oh okay, they're bandits, that makes sense, they're in shadows. Shadows = Bad, gotcha. Okay, they're leaving. Shoot, gonna have to wait for some action. Oh, now villagers. Yeah villagers are usually afraid of bandits. Wow, that afraid? Gonna kill themselves afraid? Well, there are other solutions but killing yourself isn't that bad I guess......Oh okay, gonna get some samurai instead. Idk both ways would've made a pretty cool movie.....................................................meh."

That was the first 10 minutes. After that, this movie went from one memorable scene to another, elegantly introducing seven different main characters, not including the two main farmer characters. I can't remember their names for the life of me, but I'll definitely remember how they were introduced, all of them.

The acting is a little cornball at times, but overall it definitely works. The first samurai the farmers obtain is probably the best actor in the movie, with the others just complimenting their roles. The farmers for the most part feel like they were picked off the side of a road, asked for a job, and given one in exchange for some rice or something I don't know what they'd want.

The cinematography goes from passable to excellent in some scenes. The first scene where the cinematography really did wow me was early in the movie, during a duel between a very cautious samurai and an overly excited one. Although the scene ending just as expected, the way it was presented was really well done.

The last hour is most definitely the highlight, as finally the build-up is payed off with some well-done action scenes that still hold the charm of the rest of the film. This is the movie's greatest strength, as it really shows off the director's main talent. The scenes are urgent, relentless, and surprising.

I can't honestly I say I enjoyed this movie as much as so many people try and hype it as. It is definitely an experience, though I wouldn't say the definitive experience. It's influence, however, can never be undermined. Just watching it, I could tell that every feudal Japan-era movie/show/anime ever made gathers influence from this. Even huge movies like The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly almost certainly gathered influence from this (one samurai is sure to remind anyone who's seen TG,TB,ATU of the Ugly) Overall, the movie was highly entertaining, expertly crafted, and surprisingly fresh even for this day and age.

8/10.