Seven Samurai (1954)

This is a really long movie. And there is a lot about this film that can be taken out. Not that it’s done bad, the film is a masterpiece on all levels, it’s just that it is so long. It makes the director’s cut of Amadeus look like an episode of Mad Men. And yes, the film is a masterpiece. The writing, directing, cinematography and acting are all so unnaturally strong, it blows you away. And even in the scenes in the film that are just dialogue among the samurai are amazing. This is some of the best written dialogue I have ever witnessed in my entire life. There is just so much of it. The film chronicles the dark days of a group of farmers as they anticipate an attack from a group of bandits, which possibly could leave the farmers dead or on the verge of. So in order for them to protect their lives, they hire a group of samurai to protect them. For a premise this simple, the film really does drag it out. I know that I am sounding repetitive here, and I apologize for that. But that’s my single major complaint about the film. Granted, I am glad that I got to see the film in its original format, but I do want to see an edited version so that I can see the parts that are brilliant as well as interesting. For lack of a better comparison, I’m gonna compare me awaiting an edited version of the film to when I was listening to a person talk about how he wanted to see a version of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen with all of the human parts taken out, where it would just be the robots. Now, the slow parts here aren’t as awful as the human parts in Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, but they’re just slow. And maybe it’s my fault for anticipating an action martial arts film. It is listed as one of the best action films ever made, but this is not an action film. This movie is a drama through and through. And a dang good one, might I add. (NOTE: In the first thirteen years of me watching movies, I have only seen three movies [including this one] that were over three hours long-Titanic, the Peter Jackson 2005 King Kong, and Seven Samurai. These are all amazing films, and if you have the patience, check them all out) (NOTE 2: The film is in Japanese, and has English subtitles. One of the earliest movies that I remember seeing was watching Godzilla Vs. Mechagodzilla when I was eight, huddled up in my bedroom with a portable DVD player. I loved it. So as you can probably tell, I don’t have an issue with subtitles. But if you do, I just wanted to alert you)
8.5/10