The Legend of Goemon

I'm glad I finally caught up on this Japanese classic. Honestly, ten years ago I might have been excited, but today I had trouble finishing the film. Firstly, there is too little action for my taste and the plot is uninteresting. If only it wasn’t fictional and based on proper historical facts, it could have been more engaging. The action itself is, of course, exaggerated, drawing heavily from anime, and the effects are not worth much anymore. Fortunately, there is plenty of blood, but it's just CGI trickery. The half-hour action-packed finale is nice, though, and has a certain charm, but the hour and a half before that was painful. 5/10. (14.05.2021)

So I dutifully went to the theaters to see this, even though I had it downloaded at home, and I don't regret it. If only on the principle that we need to support Japanese cinema here in our country. It was really nice to see all the actors I know from dorama (for example, I saw Jun Kaname as a bad guy for the first time). The main character was likable and made mistakes; he was just human. His friend was even more human. Some moments were purely Japanese and some felt American to me, but it didn’t clash too badly. Sometimes the graphics were like something out of an RPG, but then again, it wasn't as bad as Dororo; here at least I wasn't reduced to giggles. Yeah, and surely it’s pointless to mention that the factography isn't 100%? But I was a bit annoyed that they made Sasuke such a loser... And the ending? For all its flaws, it was really impressive. It commanded my attention. A weaker 4 stars. (10.12.2010)

A nice example of how to shoot a historical epic in a grand and visually striking way, with a fairly nice emphasis on the image and scenes that can captivate you at first glance. At the same time, it is quite harsh and there are some emotions involved. It might seem like an empty spectacle at times, but it actually works quite well. (30.03.2017)