Seven Samurai (re-release)

EMAIL PRINTCoboy Pictures

9.9 User Score:

Universal acclaim

Based on 5 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

Based on 23 votes
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Movie Info

Genre(s): Foreign

Written by: Shinobu Hashimoto
Akira Kurosawa
Hideo Oguni

Directed by: Akira Kurosawa

Release Date:
Theatrical: August 30, 2002
DVD: March 1, 1999

Running Time: 207 minutes, B/W

Origin: Japan

Language(s): Japanese (with English subtitles)

Summary

RATING: Not Rated

Starring Takashi Shimura, Toshirô Mifune, Yoshio Inaba, Seiji Miyaguchi, Minoru Chiaki, Daisuke Katô, and Isao Kimura

Akira Kurosawa's 1956 classic, set in 16th Century Japan, stands as the prototypical action film.

Also On The Web: Internet Movie Database Film Forum Profile

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

100

Boston Globe Ty Burr

Moves like hot mercury, and it draws a viewer so thoroughly into its world that real life can seem thick and dull when the lights come up.

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100

TV Guide Staff (Not credited)

Much imitated, still unsurpassed. By critical consensus one of the best movies ever made, The Seven Samurai covers so much emotional, historical, and cinematic ground that that it demands to be viewed over and over again.

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100

Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt

The legendary Mifune leads a superb cast, and Kurosawa's kinetic camera keeps the adventure sizzling with energy and wit from start to finish.

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100

New York Daily News Jami Bernard

It's impossible to imagine how the action genre would have developed without Akira Kurosawa's watershed 1954 movie Seven Samurai.

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Village Voice J. Hoberman

Rich in detail, vivid in characterization, leisurely in exposition, this 207-minute epic is bravura filmmaking -- a brilliant yet facile synthesis of Hollywood pictorialism, Soviet montage, and Japanese theatricality that could be a B western transposed to Mars.

What Our Users Said

The average user rating for this movie is 9.9 (out of 10) based on 23 User Votes

Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Alaric D gave it a10:
Kurosawa's "Seven Samurai" is a symphony of cinematic splendor, vibrancy and vision. A talisman of epic action, character and story-telling perfectly harmonized. Pure genius captured and codified on celluloid.

Mick gave it a10:
This is one of the greatest fims ever made, and my personal favorite. With kurosawa and Mifune you have the greatest director/actor collaboration ever.

Kenneth M. gave it a10:
Quite simply the greatest movie ever made. If you have not seen it, you are, my friend, incomplete

Mr. hankey gave it a10:
The movie is spectacular beyond all proportions. It helped make a classic western movie known as the Magnificent Seven and spawned a generation of many other brilliant Akira Kurosawa movies. Rashomon was what brought him here. This is what made his movies permanent in western society forever. The movie is extremely clever and grips you like so you can never let go for the 3 1/2 hours. Akira Kurosawa made his classic in 1954 and it will always be a classic to me. Many people may not know of Kurosawa's masterpieces but they may have to find out because they are missing a innovative and a usually exciting adventure.

Christopher M. gave it a10:
One of the most perfectly put together movies I have ever seen. The plot, characters, the raw emotion that this film portrays is absolutely brilliant. Easily one of my top 5 favorite movies of all time. Also the ending is excellent and so perfect it's not even funny.

Jonathan F. gave it a9:
This movie is merely an action film, at least not an American one. If you want to see some action you'll have to wait towards the last hour of the film. There is a beautiful build up to the action, which is previewed by good character build up and preparation for a battle. Now, let me say something about the films length. Since it's an Epic it has to be a long film. That's a rule in cinema. However, a good epic will manage to leave you at the end of the film with the feeling that theminutes just flew away, otherwise, you weren't "in" the movie. This is what I felt with "The Seven Samurai". This movie is an historic film, as it deals with the Fuedal society of Japan in the 16th Century. The last scene with the four dead Samurai, and the three Samurai who are left, is an amazing ending. [9/10]

mister crab gave it a10:
The greatest film ever made in the history of the universe...