Samurai 7 (2004)

29 May 2016

Last night I finished the anime Samurai 7 (2004), and this morning I watched Shichinin no samurai (or Seven Samurai, 1954). At the end of the day, the better film... depends what you're looking for.

The original Akira Kurosawa film has everything I like in a well done film: it tells its story plain and concisely, it can move you when it wants to, and its imagery and dialogue clearly express the mood and message of the story. I liked Rashomon (9/10) for similar reasons, so I expected nothing less from Kurosawa's most praised film.

Samurai 7 modernized itself by entering a more futuristic world, with mechanical bandits and laser-cannon-equipped airships, and aimed to update the original tale in a 26-episode series. It was much more character-driven, and built up and tore down characters as it progressed through the story. It was relatively true to the story, although it added a political angle to it that hurt it a little (I think it was what disengaged me from completing the series previously). However, it makes up for it mostly by giving all the Samurai characters personality, depth and motivation - something that the source material didn't have the time to do in a 3.5hr movie.

But to that end, I think Samurai 7's only weakness is its length. With 26 [20ish minute] episodes, it's almost 9 hours of story, and the political turns that it makes added unnecessary complexity to a focused tale. It's still a very good story, but it lacks the rawness and clarity the first one contained. 8/10