Sanjuro Review by 'Goon'

Sanjuro is a film by the famous Japanese director Akira Kurosawa. In this particular picture a lone Ronin(masterless samurai) happens upon a rag tag clan who have found out that someone in their clan is evil. These 9 samurai are very stupid and the ronin Sanjuro must guide them to save there clan.

Sanjuro is played by Toshiro Mifune. He has played in several samurai films including Seven Samurai and Yojimbo. Not to mention several others. As always he plays the perfect samurai. Rough and rugged with a western swagger to him.

The fighting in this movie is by no means really violent but if you enjoy Samurai films you know generally how they go. Slash here, slash there and they fall down. Hey this film was made in 1962 what do you expect? One scene thogh is very good. A samurai showdown if you will. It all ends in a gush of blood which is a relatively odd in a Kurosawa film.. At least when he filmed this one.

There is not much action in this film but alot of planning and a undertone of humor as well. Kurosawa is known for his light shades of humor in his films. When the action comes though it is fast and swift. Which realisticly what would happen. Fight scenes today are drawn out way to long. In real life if you got in a fight with someone like Jackie Chan or Jet Li you would be out in seconds.

Like I said before to truly enjoy this film you have to be ready for the pacing of it. Much of the film happens in short bursts. You also have to pay attention to the story or you will get lost quickly. With that in mind I highly reccomned this film. A really good Samurai film. Under my scale I would see this movie at around a 8 out of 10. Only because I found that Yojimbo and Seven Samurai are superior to this film.

Review by: Goon