Full Movie Reviews
Rating of
4/4
The Hidden Fortress review
Daniel Corleone - wrote on 04/23/2013
"The world is dark and this floating world is a dream." - Song from the fire festival sang by the princess. A perfect blend of comedy, action, drama and adventure. It begins with grumbling peasants Tahei and Matashichi (Minoru Chiaki and Kamatari Fujiwara). The pair was recaptured in the Akizuki castle with other prisoners. They plan on getting the princess back for a reward and discovers gold inside wood. Makabe Rokurōta (Toshiro Mifune) protects Princess Yuki Akizuki (Misa Uehara). One of the countless memorable highlights were the spear duel, fire dance and the peasants digging conversation.
Screenplay was highly strategic and entertaining such as using the double for the princess and acting greedy to enter the other clans territory. "Be honest." "Don't be greedy."- …
Rating of
3.5/4
"The Hidden Fortress" by Yojimbo
Yojimbo - wrote on 04/15/2012
A pair of bickering escaped slaves stumble upon the mountain hideout of a defeated general and his princess who are being hunted by the occupying army. They decide to join forces (with the added incentive of a horde of royal gold) to reach friendly territory. Hidden Fortress was probably the closest Kurosawa came to making a pure action/adventure film but he still had time to comment on the rigid class system by cleverly telling the story from the perspective of the lowliest characters. Widely acknowledged as the inspiration for Star Wars, it has also influenced a huge number of other stories including TV show Monkey, Hero and everything in between. The imagery is as gorgeous as you'd expect from Kurosawa, the characters brilliantly written and the performances all perfect, from Toshiro …
