After getting used to shoot-em-up action flicks that rely more on computers than characters to sell tickets, watching a masterpiece such as this is very refreshing. Most people just won't bother sitting down for over 3 hours to watch a foreign-language black and white film, and it's their loss.
The story is relatively simple: a village of farmers is threatened by a gang of 40 bandits who will return to destroy their village when their crops are harvested. The elder statesman of the village suggests hiring samurai to help defend the village. The farmers then proceed to find seven samurai who return to the village and prepare for the final battle with the bandits.
What is so great about this film is the character development. It is intriguing to watch how the farmers and samurai relate to one another, and how the farmers learn to defend themselves instead of running and hiding as they do in the beginning of the movie. The acting is excellent and every minute of the 3.5 hour film is used to develop each character, both the samurai and individual farmers.
In a time where acting, plot, and character development and interaction take a back seat to special effects and cheesy, overused subplots, watching a film like this really makes you appreciate what a great action film is all about.
The story is relatively simple: a village of farmers is threatened by a gang of 40 bandits who will return to destroy their village when their crops are harvested. The elder statesman of the village suggests hiring samurai to help defend the village. The farmers then proceed to find seven samurai who return to the village and prepare for the final battle with the bandits.
What is so great about this film is the character development. It is intriguing to watch how the farmers and samurai relate to one another, and how the farmers learn to defend themselves instead of running and hiding as they do in the beginning of the movie. The acting is excellent and every minute of the 3.5 hour film is used to develop each character, both the samurai and individual farmers.
In a time where acting, plot, and character development and interaction take a back seat to special effects and cheesy, overused subplots, watching a film like this really makes you appreciate what a great action film is all about.