Ronin Gai
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Movie Reviews of Ronin Gai
Movie Review: An Exciting, Thoughtful And Excellent Samurai Film
Summary: 4 Stars
The early 1800's were a tough time for a samurai. There wasn't much call anymore for skilled warriors. The merchant class was moving up to positions of power. The various lords around the country didn't need and in many cases couldn't afford to have hundreds of retainers. So there were thousands of samurai without employment -- ronin -- who could only hire themselves out, give up their status as samurai and move down to the merchant class, become criminals, or eke out a living as best they could. Ronin Gai takes place in a small inn and brothel on the outskirts of Tokyo. The characters are the women who work there, the ronin who hang about and who have slipped down into becoming drunks or doing unbecoming work for a samurai, and a group of the Shogun's samurai retainers who have become arrogant murderers, preying on the inn's women.
Eventually one of the women takes a stand, and for her courage she is captured and condemned to be torn apart by oxen. Four of the inn's ronin customers shake themselves out their self pity and find the honor and courage they had seemingly lost. One by one they appear in the forest where the hundred samurai have gathered to enjoy the execution. One by one, then together, they take on the bad guys.
The first two thirds of the movie is an excellent story of the women of the inn and the lives of the ronin around them. The last third is a great sword slashing epic, not too bloody, and full of climaxes and more climaxes. This is a movie that is both exciting and thoughtful. The actors do a great job. There's Shintaro Katsu as "Bull" Akaushi, a big, slovenly ronin who is part drunk and part bouncer at the inn. He's a blowhard, but a well intentioned one, and during the climax of the movie he finds a way to redeem himself that is brave and startling. There's Yoshio Harada as Gennai Aramaki, all nihilistic self pity but a great swordsman. There's Renji Ishibashi as Horo, reduced to testing the local lord's swords on the corpses of executed criminals and who loves perhaps too much. And there's Kanako Higushi as Oshin, beautiful and high priced, who eventually sets justice into motion by her example. That's a lot of Japanese names but in time you can sort out who's who. I think the movie is well worth watching. The DVD picture is just fine and the movie is beautifully photographed.
Movie Review: A Decent Film if You're Not Looking for Lots of Fighting
Summary: 4 Stars
It is typical of the Samurai or Chambarra style films; there is an enemy and of course this enemy is the dreaded state itself. I bought this movie because of Katsu Shintaro, who does a great job as always. This film is not about excessive fight scenes, in fact you have to wait until the end to see the spectacular fight (very gory), which includes some awesome iaido. It wasn't my favorite Samurai film, but it certainly has an intriguing plot involving passion, lust, honor, and blood. From what I understand this movie is a remake, I haven't seen the other film so I can't compare them. This movie kept me awake, at even 11pm, which says alot. It has an engaging, yet predictable plotline. I found myself very attached to the turmoil of the geisha in the film, and I felt even sympathy for the ronins. If you want a beautiful film concerning Ronin protecting geisha you will find this in the film. In some respects a very similar structure to a Zatoichi film, but more in depth.Movie Review: Poorly executed
Summary: 3 Stars
With a storyline that has so much promise, and as a tribute to the father of its genre (chambera/jidai-geki), I found this version of Ronin Gai to be both weak and disappointing. The editing and camera-work were dull, close ups that were cried out for failed to materialize, the incidental music was irrelevent, and characterizations while promising, never attained their potential.Movie Review: Good
Summary: 3 Stars
Good, but not great, really. If you're expecting this film to be full of action you'll be disapointed. Nice to have if you're a Shintaro Katsu fan and love period films.Movie Review: Good period 1830 Samurai Flick, Too Many Drunks, Dumb Plot
Summary: 2 Stars
There were parts of this movie that I actually enjoyed; There would be five minutes here, 8 minutes there, 20 seconds somewhere else, and then an actual 12 minute section, and so on. In other words, about half of the movie is good, 15% very good, and much of the rest is pointless crap just shot for effect. The good parts were worth it to me because I'm always searching for good period Japanese flicks. They should have spent more time on plot development. The drunken ronin fighting at the end was a huge spoiler. He should have been sober. Bummer.