TaryBiggBall It was OK. I don't see why everyone loves it so much. It wasn't very smart or deep or well-directed.

Aubrey Hackett While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.

Erica Derrick By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Haven Kaycee It is encouraging that the film ends so strongly.Otherwise, it wouldn't have been a particularly memorable film

Platypuschow I've been on a Toho binge for a while now and for the most part the films have been enjoyable, especially those by Kurosawa. The earlier films were dark, bleak and unsettling viewing and therefore going into Seven Samurai I was of two minds. First I expected more of the same, in both quality and tone but then on the flipside at time of writing this is ranked as the 19th highest rated movie on IMDB which is incredible.My expectations were that it would be good, but that's about it. Seeing Takashi Shimura in the credits also confirmed my logic that this was going to at least be an entertaining three and a half hours.I was mistaken, Seven Samurai is not good............it's outstanding.Wonderfully crafted, perfectly scored, incredibly choreographed, well acted and beautifully written this is well deserving of it's high place and I would consider it nothing short of a masterpiece.If you check out my IMDB rating distribution it's very clear to see that getting anything higher than an eight is a rarity, this deserves it on so many levels.I didn't expect this level of quality further as generally I don't tend to agree with titles in the IMDB top 250, this however I do I thoroughly unconditionally agree.A masterpiece and essential viewing, I don't even need to give the premise of the movie in this review and must simply stress that this is film making mastery at its finest.The Good:Takashi ShimuraVery well shot for its timePerfectly craftedThe Bad:Nothing springs to mindThings I Learnt From This Movie:Akira Kurosawas should be a household name, not Bruckheimer or Bay!I'll put money down now that none of the remakes or movies heavily influenced by Seven Samurai comes close in quality

JaydoDre The story of the Seven Samurai is not a cliché but it is treading an existing type of movie, namely a type of movie in which the story builds to an important event. This event will test several characters, showing how they deal with the said event and with one another. Normally, the formula to such a movie requires the first 80% of the movie to be devoted to showing the backstory of each character who will be present for the final event. This is necessary because you have multiple characters and you need to understand the backstory of each of them as well as the relationships between them in order to understand and fully appreciate their behaviour during the final event. Seven Samurai gives a little bit of an introduction for each character, but not much. Not long after seeing this movie, I have completely forgotten 3 out of the 7 samurai. And I would only be able to describe the characters of 2 out of the 7 people, and only briefly. It is not a spoiler to say that some of the samurai are not going to make it out alive, but it's hard to care when the characters are so undeveloped.As for the acting in this movie, it is a matter of taste. The Japanese sometimes have a really expressive line delivery, which is most evident in anime production. This delivery is aided by the fact that the Japanese language, even when spoken at a conversational speed, can easily be made to sound more pressurised than Western languages, with a lot of harsh "zh" and "sh" mushed together for effect. And in addition to that, older movies in general seem to suffer from overenthusiastic acting - a leftover from the theatrical era when it was actually necessary due to the distance between the performers and the viewers. Perhaps as a result of all 3 of these factors, there is a lot of overacting in this film. Specifically, Toshiro Mifune's character was given artistic license to physical improvisation by the director and Toshiro ran with it all the way to cartoon-land. I felt a physical need to look away during some of the scenes because it just got too weird for me to handle. That is not to say that the acting is bad. It's great but very stylised.I read that the reason why Toshiro was given the liberty to go nuts is because the director was worried that the movie would otherwise be too quiet and boring. He was sort of right, because when you remove Toshiro's character and his contribution to the themes concerning the position and identity of the peasant class, the film is just a story about a few people coming together and then fighting off an attack. It moves slowly, at almost 3 hours long, and not all of the scenes feel necessary.The good part is that, despite of it all the shortcomings, the film remains entertaining. The scenes are shot with competence. I am just somewhat surprised to see all the overwhelmingly positive reactions to this film.

jamesjustice-68209 Reviewing classics is like reviewing the invention of the wheel. The most important thing is that the invention has overgrown its inventor and has become much more than "just another wheel" or probably the beginning of something great. Seven Samurai was my first movie from the filmography of this wonderful japanese director and I can say only one bad thing about - it's long. Unbearably long. Don't take this the wrong way, I like when the movie pushes boundaries of running time and shows you the greatest story that you enjoy watching every second. Gone with the wind. Ben-Hur. Lawrence of Arabia. Even the silent ones, Dr. Mabuse and Die Nibelungen (which both are over 4 hours) have got that something that glues you to your seat until the very end. It's the story. The story that doesn't allow you to leave for a second. Sadly it's not the case with Seven Samurai. Maybe because the story itself isn't that exciting and the plot is very simple so you can easily skip some scenes, delete an hour of running time and it will be perfect. A masterpiece. And again, don't take this the wrong way, this movie is a masterpiece. The characters (especially Kikuchiyo), music, cinematography, editing, locations; everything was superb. Except for the fact that you could easily fall asleep starting 35 min mark running time. A must watch for true fans of cinema as an art.

stabers There's not much I can say about Seven Samurai that hasn't already been said.It's arguably the most well conceived and well executed film in the history of filmmaking (in my opinion). While this is a film with content that is steeped in historical Japanese culture, it portrays so many things that are undeniably human. It comes from a time when cinema still aimed at being the one artistic expression that could cross cultural boundaries like no other. Offering audiences from any background the chance to share an experience that connected with our most basic elements of humanity, and could result in creating shared experiences. As opposed to today's cinema that aims at polarization in the name of creating "buzz." This what movies should aspire to be and what filmmakers should aspire to make.Also, there's swords!