Samurai X - El Fin de la Leyenda

As an advent fan of the Kenshin animated series, I found this film and other the films a great live action adaptation. Everyone played their role spectacularly. I rarely write reviews but I felt that it was worth mentioning and I hope their sales do extremely well.

One of the best things I enjoyed about the movie(s) was obviously the action sequences costume designs and how the settings mimic'ed Tokyo & Kyoto was portrayed in the series. It felt like I was in that time line. Some hardcore fans would be disappointed that it was not EXACTLY like the series as far as the plot but how much can you condensed from a series into a 3-part movie. I thought it was well done.

The biggest difference between the anime series and the movie is that, in the series they focus on how techniques work and analyze fighters style in great detail & length. There is none of that in the movie which was not a big deal whatsoever.

I would LOVE to see if they could make a movie of the OVA series with Kenshin being the Manslayer (Hitokiri Battousai) and tell the story of the cross scar on his face.

Any one else agrees?

I reckon you'll have at least seen the two movies before this one. So I don't consider it spoiling talking about things that happened before this movies events. Like the fact, that our main character swore to not kill anymore. Something difficult to hold up, especially if you consider how many people are out to get him.

After that cliffhanger from the previous movie, we do get an introduction to that character we saw at the end. And it's a pivotal character to say the least. Since I'm not aware of the Manga or Anime made before this, I can't compare anything. I do know that the dynamic of the movie works nicely. Also the action scenes are really well choreographed (like the previous one). It might be a bit too long with its running time, but it's still very entertaining

.... is that you need an even bigger movie to kill them.

A story so big it steals from the characterization and the development of the themes that made the Kenshin tale so interesting in the first place.

I have already questioned why anyone in their right mind would want to spend the better part of 6 hours building up to the "final fight" behind Kenshin and the super-baddie (who is so overdrawn he could just as easily have appeared in a Bond film) ....?

And I see in the IMDb, at least so far, one or two fans have been brave enough to make the very same points I am making.

To be honest, I enjoyed the children's TV series more than this opus. Whether that makes me a poor critic or a child at heart is another matter entirely.

I repeat my view that the point of film is to entertain. If a film fails to entertain, it fails, period.

In this film, the only one who seems to be having fun is Masaharu Fukuyama, playing Kenshin's original Master, conveniently appearing to assist a very tricky plot arc.

The first time he finds Kenshin on the beach, almost dead, he remarks how astonished he was to see his "stupid student" again after almost 15 years.

But he says it with a smile, and we know he is happy to see Kenshin.

At that single juncture, I thought, for one brief shining moment, that this saga was finally going to be fun.

And it was. For the 15 minutes or so that Masaharu Fukuyama appears on camera, we get a peek at what this film might have been.

But just a peek.

The action scenes just freaking brilliant can't get enough of it.

Fans of the manga may have issues with the story, but since I don't know the source material, it didn't bother me.

The key moments are well done, but in between those key moments things tend to drag on. I understand these are manga characters, so they tend to be on the unrealistic side. But something just feels off in the delivery of the dialogs, they seemed... disconnected. But once I got to those key moments I was thoroughly entertained.

The fights are fantasy style katana combat, but very creative and well choreographed. As a fan of martial arts movies, I enjoyed them very much. The "final boss fight" was fantastic and worthy of the climax of the trilogy. Bravo.

If you like action, especially martial arts action, I say this trilogy is worth a watch, but just keep in mind this came from comic books. As with most action movies, if you look too deep everything falls apart, so just sit back and enjoy.