Owls' Castle

This is an extraordinary film. As you will see if you read the other comments here, it is not to everyone's taste. It is not an action movie. However, it really isn't quite the sober "realistic" movie that others have described either. THAT movie would be Ninja hicho fukuro no shiro, Castle of Owls (aka Samurai Spies), also based on Ryotaro Shiba's novel and a fine piece of work in its own right.

Castle of Owls does sport some over the top ninja action, but Owls' Castle actually has a lot more. There is magic, wire fu, impossible appearances, and quite a bit of heroic swordplay. It is just that these things don't jump out at you: they are part of the fabric of the film: the wonderfully fantastic way it looks and the exciting way the story is told.

This movie was made by Masahiro Shinoda, who is one of the greatest living film directors. It is an amazing summing up of his concerns, and I think it may be the crowning achievement of his career.

And it had so much potential. Fukuro no shiro aka Owl's Castle had the budget and story to be a Japanese epic that might have ranked with Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. As it is, it fails to even match the Chinese masterpiece, The Emperor and the Assassin. The first thing that grabs you is the beautiful photography and splendid costumes. A very good looking film. But the potentially stirring tale of a Ninja who seeks revenge against a warlord who destroyed his clan is ruined by needless complications including tedious political subtexts, as well as a hair pulling pace. The hero named Juzo underplays his role with too much restraint, thus making it difficult to get emotionally involved with his character. Also frustrating was the underplayed concept of a female Ninja who ultimately becomes the hero's love interest.

But nothing was as frustrating as the restraint placed upon the action. Here we have a tale in medieval Japan with feuding warlords and Ninja's, so you would think we might see some serious mind blowing sword play ala Hong Kong -- but it's as if the action was treated as a secondary consideration. There is some sword play, but the camera doesn't follow the action, as if we were watching the events unfold on a stage. And the final battle, which could have made everything else forgivable, fails to deliver. In the end, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is perhaps the finest example of a film that balances a sweeping drama with jaw dropping action. Too bad the same thing cannot be said of the potential masterpiece that is Fukuro no shiro.

Underrated and often unappreciated, but a hidden gem of recent Japanese cinema, starring the inimitable Kiichi Nakai - with a grasp for comedy and hamming up some moments; acting sublimely at others.

Patience and a better understanding of the period concerned (about to crossover from Nobunaga Oda into the Tokugawa/Edo period in the late 16th Century, when Japan was on the cusp of civil war) also go far.

While some of the background effects are not particularly convincing (the early attack on Iga, for instance, and the decapitated head that spits across the screen), most of the sets are appropriate backdrops for some often inspired dialogue and innuendos.

Musically, too, the movie rings true, opting for traditional instrumentation rather than the J-Pop sounds that have hallmarked a lot of other Japanese period pieces.

Andrez Bergen

Remake of the classic 1963 movie with almost same title, owls castle is a strong ninja story with great acting and choreography and excellent colors but with misplaced soundtrack.

A ruthless warlord, order to kill and wipeout all ninja clans, the way its done is very barbaric even children and wives are killed. But when his daughter dies of flew the warlord get weaker and dying. But that doesn't stop the remaining ninja Hanzo who seek revenge for his clan and mistress. He also meet Gohei a former ninja of the same Clan as Hanzo but despite their friendship he has left his beliefs and now serve as the warlords bodyguard.

Even though I don't like the soundtrack, it's a little too creepy sometimes and there is a shouting man soundtrack that takes you off the movie but despite that the movie is great, a perfect ninja movie a ninja lover should have in their collection. 10/10

Shiba Rytoaro is a historic novelist. The reason why ninjas in this movie don't make use of James Bond gadgets to make their way through booby-trap castles and end the story in a big explosion is because this movie isn't the 2001 ninja-flop Aka Kage, and those things never happened. Don't give me the They-totally-messed-up-history-in-the-Gladiator-but-still-made-a-Russel-Cro we-movie-out-of-it look, Shiba Ryotaro's work is interesting because it is historically plausible. That said, the amount of action they did manage to put in the movie is realistically good. Realistic is the key word, because ninjas really did exist, so why don't you give them a break for once and try to look at them for what they were. This isn't about turtles living in the gutters, nor kids left home alone. I know it's hard to imagine, but these people were real, and that's why this movie deserves to be watched. The color palette of the movie is really beautiful, and the action is shot seriously--they actually had a mercenary choreograph the hand to hand combat scenes, he wasn't a fancy martial arts expert, but he did know how to kill people. Nakai Kiitsu is adequately stoic as the survivor of a clan, determined to assassinate Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and Mako's cunning eyes and sneer recreate the crafty strategist who unified Japan.