Review – The Seven Samurai

If you see only one samurai movie, make this the one. It has everything: Akira Kurosawa at his finest behind the camera, Toshiro Mifune hamming it up in front of the camera, the running time, the shot composition, the zen philosophizing, and of course the swordfights. The only drawback is that it was shot in black and white (normally fine with me, but I’ve seen Kurosawa do some impressive stuff with color and have long wondered if he wouldn’t have preferred it here). Further, this tale of hired killers employed by villagers for protection against bandits has resurfaced in American pop culture again and again. I suppose it helps to have a taste for this kind of movie, but if this is the sort of thing you enjoy, then don’t miss this one. It’s the genre at its peak, and one of my favorite movies of all time. Caveat on the Criterion Collection DVD, however: it was telecined from a really inconsistent print. If it’s re-released in a cleaned-up version later, I’d definitely re-buy it. Buy the disc