Login
Home
585 Lists
7803 Reviews
Collections
Notes: In fact, I might or should have watched it much sooner but, because of its huge running time, I kept postponing it for a while. Indeed, the version I saw was 210 mins long so it’s not a movie you can watch just like that, it will take not only a lot of your time but also a lot of your attention and focus. Eventually, did it really need to last so long? To be honest, I’m not really sure. I mean, the damned thing was really good, no doubt about it, and it’s always interesting when a director of Mizoguchi’s caliber decide to increase the running time to such extent. It does also automatically gives the whole thing some epic dimensions and you also get lost in this world when you spend so much time in it. And, yet, 95% of it was about a bunch of dudes sitting on their knees and having some conversations, not really much more than that after all. For example, if you would expect some badass action scene during which the famous 47 ronins would finally attack and kill Kira Yoshinaka, well, you will be rather disappointed since all this actually happened off-screen. What was so interesting with this movie, at least to me, was how they displayed the samurai as strong and proud but also how they became stifled by all their rules and protocols. As explained at the beginning of the movie, at the time, they were going through decades of peace and, since there was no fighting left, all they had left was these rules and protocols which, at the same time, gave sense to their lives but also actually ruined it for them.
Notes: In fact, I might or should have watched it much sooner but, because of its huge running time, I kept postponing it for a while. Indeed, the version I saw was 210 mins long so it’s not a movie you can watch just like that, it will take not only a lot of your time but also a lot of your attention and focus. Eventually, did it really need to last so long? To be honest, I’m not really sure. I mean, the damned thing was really good, no doubt about it, and it’s always interesting when a director of Mizoguchi’s caliber decide to increase the running time to such extent. It does also automatically gives the whole thing some epic dimensions and you also get lost in this world when you spend so much time in it. And, yet, 95% of it was about a bunch of dudes sitting on their knees and having some conversations, not really much more than that after all. For example, if you would expect some badass action scene during which the famous 47 ronins would finally attack and kill Kira Yoshinaka, well, you will be rather disappointed since all this actually happened off-screen. What was so interesting with this movie, at least to me, was how they displayed the samurai as strong and proud but also how they became stifled by all their rules and protocols. As explained at the beginning of the movie, at the time, they were going through decades of peace and, since there was no fighting left, all they had left was these rules and protocols which, at the same time, gave sense to their lives but also actually ruined it for them.
“The main reason why I wanted to check this movie was because it was included in the ‘They Shoot Pictures, Don’t They?’ list but I discovered afterwards that it was apparently removed recently from the prestigious movie list. Well, it doesn’t really matter since it is definitely a classic wor” read more
“To be honest, I wasn’t expecting much from this flick but, since it was available on Disney+ and since it was on my queue apparently for ages (I have seriously no idea why), I thought I might as well check it out. Well, it turned out to be a rather unpleasant viewing but probably not for the reaso” read more
“Wow… Was it already 10 years since they released another installment? Did anyone really care anymore about this franchise at this point? To be honest, since this movie had been really poorly received, I had some rather low expectations but, since it was available on Netflix, I thought I might as w” read more
Notes:
Wow… Was it already 10 years since they released another installment? Did anyone really care anymore about this franchise at this point? To be honest, since this movie had been really poorly received, I had some rather low expectations but, since it was available on Netflix, I thought I might as well check it out. Eventually, was it really an improvement on the already abysmal 3rd installment? Well, not really, I’m afraid. As far as I was concerned, the first disappointing thing about this movie was the lackluster cast. Indeed, this time, they gave us Megan Fox, Tony Jaa, Iko Uwais, the guy from ‘Bad Boys’ playing Antonio Bandera’s son (seriously…) and some random Asian chick with a bunch of tattoos. Sure, Tony Jaa and Iko Uwais were not some bad additions but this movie was definitely missing some badass star power since there was no Bruce Willis, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Harrison Ford, Mel Gibson or Wesley Snipes involved. To make things worse, Sylvester Stallone, basically the face and heart of this franchise, was gone for maybe 90% of the duration. I didn’t know that before watching this movie but Stallone had apparently taking a backseat with this movie which was even supposed to be the last time he would be playing Barney Ross. In this case, please, just stop with this franchise then… Concerning the rest of the movie, the intro involving Stallone, Statham and Fox was obviously supposed to be humorous but it was in fact rather pathetic. After that, it never got better. Seriously, even the action scenes were rather underwhelming. 
“To be honest, I wasn’t expecting much from this flick but, since I had it apparently for years in my queue, I thought I might as well check it out after all. First of all, I actually completely forgot that I already saw years ago ‘The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning’ (I really didn’t ” read more
“To be honest, I have never been a fan of this franchise but, since the 3rd installment was available on Netflix, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, I have to admit that it was an improvement on the previous sequel. Indeed, the intro was solid and it was actually pretty cool that the actio” read more
