jowoosta

I really enjoyed this movie. Mifune (as Heihachiro) is a powerhouse throughout the movie in the lead role and has remarkable presence in all of his scenes. The first part of the movie is a little slow, but the movie begins to pick up half way through as the relationship between Heihachiro and Jutaro (Akira Takarada) develops.

There are some great moments you don't want to miss, especially the scenes between Mifune and Yôko Tsukasa. In one particular scene, he is covertly expressing his feelings for Lady Ochii, and it is extremely powerful. This is a solid overall Samurai flick, although it is a little light on the action and heavier on story.

I just saw this movie for the first time a few days ago, and I was very impressed. Foreign invaders take over a small American town and begin setting up a base of command. A group of high school kids manages to escape to the woods, and after seeing the invaders kill their loved ones, they start using guerrilla tactics to fight back. They are able to pose a legitimate threat to the invaders, and well, you'll have to see the rest.

I'm confused by how many people gave this a negative review. Most people say that this is a movie about Communism, the Cold War, what could happen in America, etc. They saw it's pro NRA, sexist, and has a political agenda.

These people need to put these issues aside and see what lies underneath. This is a character-driven action movie about hardship, survival, friendship, vengeance, loyalty and ultimately, the evils of war.

The details about how the enemy was able to invade are not seriously addressed, because these are not important details in the movie. In fact, there is rare mention of who the enemy really is and what they want. This is because the only important thing about the enemy is that they are foreign invaders. Communism, the Cold War, and the USA are all merely stages for this movie, they do not hide a political message or warning unless you take them in context with the time period of the film.

As far as it being pro-NRA, this is a war movie, there's going to be guns, get over it. That the kids know how to hunt isn't pro-NRA, it's just necessary that they know how to use guns for the story. As far as violence, yes there are a lot of action scenes, but the action scenes are purposefully minimalist, you only see the details you need to see.

As far as sexist, I feel the film is the exact opposite. In fact it seems to reek of equality. If gun-toting high school girls fighting alongside boys is sexist, then I don't know what sexism is. One reviewer says it's too macho. OK, maybe I could see that, except for the fact that every male character cries his brains out at least once during the movie, is this macho?

This is not the most realistic movie plot-wise. I feel the movie asks you to suspend your disbelief from the opening of the movie. If you think that hundreds of paratroopers being dropped outside your high school class room and killing your teacher doesn't plunge the movie into a level of fiction approaching sci-fi then get your head checked. It's only important that the characters believe what's happening is real, and that is enough. Go see it.