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Kill! More at IMDbPro »Kiru (original title)
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| Index | 12 reviews in total |
11 out of 14 people found the following review useful:
Kept me entertained from start to finish, 23 January 2006
Author:
Simon Booth from UK
Kill! is an economically titled film that provides some great
characters, a strong story, lots of well shot fights and some clever
humour. I have to confess that most of the samurai films I've seen have
put me to sleep - Kurosawa's work or the Zatoichi films being a happy
exception. KILL! never once had me in danger of nodding off, keeping me
entertained from start to finish.
I was reminded of Kurosawa's SANJURO quite a bit, and read afterwards
that both films were based on the same novel. I'm not sure if there
were multiple stories within that novel, or if one or both of the films
are just very loosely based on it. Tatsuya Nakadai's ronin is certainly
a similar character to Mifune's Sanjuro, perhaps a little more
world-weary and sly, not so majestic. Nakadai is Mifune's only serious
competition for the "God of Samurai Films" crown, having made a bunch
over the course of his career. His performance in KILL! is the best
I've seen from him.
The film is well lensed, written, directed and performed. The pacing
rarely if ever lags, and the story focuses on the characters rather
than getting bogged down in trying to accurately describe historical
detail or tedious political intrigues. Action is exciting and the
comedy is subtle, smart and dark... all making for a pleasing 114
minutes of cinema :) Recommended!
6 out of 8 people found the following review useful:
Satisfying chambara action with tongue firmly in cheek, 13 July 2008
Author:
chaos-rampant from Greece
Both the strength and the major weakness of Kiru! is that it refuses to
take itself too serious. Although there are some notable moments where
Okamoto goes for the dramatic angle (the squad leader whose wife works
in the brothel facing off with Tatsuya Nakadai's character for one) and
does it well, he keeps sabotaging his own movie. In that aspect, Kiru
is definitely not a formal jidai-geki but more of a light-hearted
samurai action film.
Kihachi Okamoto might not be well known outside chambara circles, but
he's one of the best in the genre and definitely at the top of his game
directing action. Fresh from the devastating Sword of Doom (his magnum
opus and one of Japanese cinema's finest moments), he brings a fresh,
wild approach to his action. Less stylized and formal but more
energetic. In terms of samurai cinema, the movie opens in a rundown
little village and with the dust and winds blowing the whole setup is
eerily reminiscent of Yojimbo setting. The plot is a crossover of sorts
between Kurosawa's Sanjuro movies and the themes Eiichi Kudo explored
in his Samurai Revolution trilogy (samurais ambushing and assassinating
a daimyo for the honour of their clan etc). It may seem a bit
convoluted and off-putting to the uninitiated, but that's typical in
films of this kind.
With regards to the comedy angle, while Kiru is a light-hearted fare,
it's definitely not laugh-out-loud funny. A lot is lost in the
translation I guess, but sometimes the comedic timing of Tatsuya
Nakadai as the cunning, sly yakuza (a welcome change from the tortured
soul characters he played in the 60's) and Etsushi Takahashi as the
overzealous farmer with samurai ambitions shine through.
8 out of 12 people found the following review useful:
A truly rewarding samurai movie!, 3 September 2005
Author:
alice_frye from United States
Nothing prepared me for the laughter and all-around entertainment offered by this film. The writer, director and actors manage to have fun with icons of Japanese society (e.g., a card shark priest, an honest bureaucrat who has never visited a brothel, a noble peasant, etc.,) while maintaining a good pace with the swordplay and forward movement of the story line. Nakadai is brilliant as the "been there, done that" samurai, who reveals much of the story's insanity to us through whispered comments and observations. Viewers might need a scorecard to keep track of all the double-crossing and back-firing that takes places, but Kiru is tremendous fun from beginning to end. And it's the only movie I've seen with the ugliest chicken in the world serving as a leitmotiv.
3 out of 4 people found the following review useful:
You'll never look at Sergio Leone -- or samurai flicks -- the same way again, 27 January 2008
Author:
Terrell-4 from San Antonio, Texas
*** This review may contain spoilers ***
Take a piece of Akira Kurosawa, blend in a big portion of Sergio Leone,
then add a little of Mel Brooks on Xanax and you'll have an idea of one
of the oddest and most amusing examples of chanbara satire. The
"sword-fighting movies" from Japan nearly collapsed under the weight of
clichés, just as American "gun-fighting" westerns nearly bit the dust
in the U.S. Kihachi Okamoto piles on the clichés in this tale taken
from the same source material as Sanjuro. While elements of the plot
are described, it's not the plot that's too important, but what Okamoto
does with it. You might have a hard time afterwards watching some of
those popular Italian westerns with a straight face (or even some of
Kurosawa's eastern westerns).
Two ragged men, one a former samurai, Genta (Tatsuya Nakadai), who is
disillusioned and has become a wandering yakuza, and the other, Hanji
(Etsushi Takahashi), a farmer who wants to become a samurai, meet by
chance in a dusty, decaying village. The two suddenly find themselves
in the midst of corruption, betrayal and assassination. They wind up
fighting rival gangs and, sometimes, each other. Along the way we
encounter the loving clichés of samurai flicks as well as the loving
clichés from Italian westerns...all that running back and forth, noble
love, beatings, the really evil villain...as well as pratfalls, a monk
who seems to be channeling William Hickey, a flying finger that lands
on the ground right in front of the camera and probably the scrawniest
chicken ever to have a major role in the movies.
The year is 1833 when Japan's rigid class system was decaying. Tatsuya
Nakadai as Genta is marvelous as the quizzical and disillusioned
ex-samurai who long ago had enough of the posturing and false honor of
his class. He has no intention of being a hero, yet he finds himself
against his better judgment being drawn into a clan battle between
corruption on one side and naivety on the other. He also is a realist.
"Kill or be killed," he says at one point, "either would leave an
unpleasant aftertaste." Almost as good is Etsushi Takahashi as Hanji.
He may only be a farmer, but Hanji is tired of that back-breaking work.
He sold his land and bought a samurai's outfit with the two swords. If
he can become a samurai, he knows honor will be close behind. Hanji is
energetic and impressed with titles. When the two meet, they make an
odd-couple team, even if at a various times Hanji is determined to
stick a sword through Genta's chest.
Two-thirds of the way through the movie, however, Okamoto lets the
clichés regain their rightful power. The laughs are few and far between
as battles are fought between muskets and swords (the swords lose), a
good man dies and a fight to the death takes place between Genta and an
evil usurper. We're left with the carnage of dead samurai, caused by
betrayal and suspicion..and with Genta's comment to Hanji, "Now do you
understand what samurai are like?"
Wait, there's more. This is a satire, after all. Our last view is of
the two men, one a realist and the other now also a realist, leaving
the village. They're followed by the admiring young women of the town's
one pleasure house, all determined to journey with them. That leaves
the scrawny chicken, strutting around and pecking in the dust,
unimpressed with all that has just occurred.
4 out of 6 people found the following review useful:
A classic, 30 October 2006
Author:
Gunnar Van Vliet from Canada
This is an example of a near perfect film. It most certainly is a comedy and the blend of serious story and personal conflict makes the light-hearted moments hilarious and touching. I have never seen this kind of humour so effectively portrayed on film and perhaps some of the other reviewers simply have not been fortunate to find themselves in this kind of "pickle". Sometimes events are so unbelievable, or so obviously predictable that you have to surrender yourself to fate and laugh. This movie is about the immensity of fate and how man is but a small raft on the big ocean. He can only paddle to avoid waves and laugh at his fortune as he makes his way towards a distant shore, perhaps never reaching it. It is pure beauty.
Kill! astounds with its blend of comedy and drama, 27 December 2012
Author:
Patryk Czekaj from Warsaw
With all its dark humor and cynical attitude towards samurai code of
honor, Kill! comes as a truly unformulaic and genre-bending period
drama. Written and directed by the famous Kihachi Okamoto, the film's
loosely based on Shūgorō Yamamoto's widely read short story Peaceful
Days (also the basis for Kurosawa's Sanjuro). Kill! (or Kiru in
Japanese) combines a well-crafted, complex plot with audaciously
choreographed fight scenes, some visually-stunning, long shots of
Japanese landscapes, with a bunch of witty - and often farcical -
dialogues.
The picture presents a story about two luckless, hungry would-be
warriors, who find themselves in the middle of a ferocious battle
between the opposing sides of a dangerous yakuza clan. Genta (Tatsuya
Nakadai) is a former samurai, who got tired of the difficult lifestyle
of a wandering ronin. He wasn't able to find any other work, and just
wound up in the deserted city, where he met Hanjiro (Etsushi
Takahashi), an ex-farmer who wants to become a samurai, but didn't have
a chance to prove his abilities yet. As soon as the two discover that
the abandoned city is a battleground for a merciless group of samurai
retainers, it's simply too late, and they get dragged into the whole
deadly intrigue in just a matter of minutes. It becomes clear that one
side of the conflict betrayed the other, and the resolution of the
struggle might come only when one of the parties kills the other. In
the cutthroat game of murder and betrayal, the two main characters take
differing sides, and in order to achieve success they need to kill each
other at first. Though Hanjiro's first assignment as an aspiring
samurai is to dispose of Genta, he hesitates for a long time, as Genta
proved to be a valuable source of information regarding the precious
samurai life. As the tension mounts, and both groups become more and
more irritated and bloodthirsty, Hanjiro and Genta decide to team up
and outsmart everyone in their way, leading on to one of the most
riveting and satisfying finales in a samurai picture ever filmed.
The problem with Kill! is that it's not as well-known around the world
as it really should be. Moreover, it's simply an under-watched samurai
epic, even though it actually shares - and makes fun of - all the
far-reaching values of many prominent Kurosawa pictures. Here the
portrayal of typical samurai warriors is a most parodical one, as Kill!
shows so deliberately that there are those, who behave only badly and
those, who behave only honorably, and there's nothing in-between. It's
a game-changer of sorts when it comes to the topic of samurai, given
its highly fanciful attempt at denuding all the hidden aspects of those
seemingly convoluted personas.
The cinematography is as raw-looking as it is actually picture-perfect.
It brings out all that's eye-popping about the beautiful, yet
blood-filled, Japanese scenery.
Kill! also references various other samurai pictures, playing with the
idea of a dramatic and serious samurai film, giving itself an utterly
lighthearted tone. Kihachi Okamoto created a little, under-appreciated
gem that's not only engaging, but also truly smart and concise.
1 out of 3 people found the following review useful:
A vagrant couldn't do all this., 25 October 2008
Author:
lastliberal from United States
Tatsuya Nakadai is no stranger to Samurai films, having played in Ran,
Yojimbo, and Sanjura among the almost 100 films he has done. This film
is based upon the same book as Sanjura.
Tatsuya Nakadai plays Genta, a yakuza that travels from town to tow. He
meets up with Hanji (Etsushi Takahashi) a farmer who wants to be a
Samurai. Reminds you of the farmer in the Magnificent Seven who wanted
to be a gunfighter.
They get caught up in a local fracas that pits seven samurai against a
lord taking over the town. It is a one-sided fight, to say the least.
You will find some Kurasawa in here, as well as some Clint Eastwood as
"the man with no name"; along with some very funny dialog. All of this
will serve to keep you glued to the action until the very end.
8 out of 18 people found the following review useful:
HILARIOUS!The "Scary Movie" of samurai films!, 31 July 2001
Author:
tnamwong (tnamwong@hotmail.com) from Los Angeles
Before watching Kiru "Kill!" see SEven SAmurai, Hidden Fortress, Sanjuro, Yojimbo and the awesome SWORD OF DOOM then you will catch all of the inside jokes and truly appreciate this masterful parody. The humor in this movie is conveyed elegantly. For example the director of "Kiru," Okamoto, who also directed Sword of Doom, included a stone Buddha atop of the hill overlooking the desolate town setting of the movie in reference to "Daibosatsu Toge" which means "Great Buddha Pass" (the Japanese title for Sword of Doom). Okay that wasn't the best example, but can you imagine henchmen screaming EXTRA loud when they are butchered? Or how about a grimy farmer turning away a cute girl he calls a "powdered monster!" Amidst the exaggerated dust storms, references to the value of rice, mountain treks and the trouble 7 "children" or samurai cause when planning a conspiracy is a trio of heroes: a farmer who yearns to be a samurai, the last henchmen of an annihilated gang, and a vagabond (rather than a dashing ronin) played by Tatsuya Nakadai. Yes, there are staring duels, flying daggers, great fight scenes with wooden swords but lastly a showdown that is NOT in the middle of a ghost town or rolling field but in a tiny room. This film is for the fans!!!
5 out of 14 people found the following review useful:
Possibly the funniest samurai movie, 12 June 1999
Author:
goleson from Washington, DC
This is possibly the funniest comedy samurai movie, with a more subtle humor than the hilarious Zatoichi series. Stars the brilliant Tatsuya Nakadai.
2 out of 9 people found the following review useful:
Weak comedy and confusing storyline but superior samurai action, 20 January 2008
Author:
TimothyFarrell from Worcester, MA
"Kill!" has been listed as a comedy by many, but I'm really at lost to
see why. Not only did I not find it funny, but I didn't see where it
was going for humor. Maybe something was lost in translation or the
humor was so subtle it flew over my head. I'm not really sure what
happened, and I'm a huge fan of both samurai pictures and Spaghetti
westerns (the other genre this purports to spoof). Also, the screenplay
is a bit too convulsed for its own good - its very difficult to keep
track of who's on who's side. Kurosawa's "Sanjuro" is based on the same
source material, and is a much more engrossing motion picture.
Fortunately, these minor complaints don't keep it from being a very
entertaining and exciting flick. The humor attempts never really become
annoying and no one actually watches a chambara for its plot. They
watch it for superior samurai action, and "Kill!" more than excels in
that area. Kihachi Okamoto is great at staging battle sequences and
violence - the film is always captivating when its dishing out the
plentiful action sequences. The film is certainly never dull, and if
you enjoyed "Yojimbo" or the "Zatoichi" series, you'll definitely find
plenty to be amused by here. (7/10)
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