Better Late Than Never on "Seven Samurai"

I sat down over the past three days and watched the entirety of "Seven Samurai". This movie has been on my list for sometime now. I have always heard about it. I have heard everyone say what an epic and triumphant movie it was when it came out. I have heard everyone sing the praises of director Akira Kirosawa. I know the lore but have never put away time to sit and watch. I knew with my son starting football practice that I would have some free time in the mornings to watch what I want to see, and "Seven Samurai" was my choice. It must be said, this is my first Kirosawa movie that I have watched. I figured I'd start with what most consider to be his best. I will definitely be watching more of his work after seeing this movie.

"Seven Samurai" is a classic, and it is a classic for a myriad of reasons. This is one of the best movies I have ever watched. Never for one moment did I feel bored or annoyed watching an almost three and a half hour long samurai epic from 1954. The movie's pacing might be one of its best attributes. This is probably the first movie that followed the whole "getting the band together" cliche. That is the crux of this movie.

For those that haven't seen it, "Seven Samurai" tells the story of a village of people afraid of being pillaged by bandits, asking one samurai to help, and he then recruits six more to fight the fight. From the first moment we saw our main samurai, I was hooked. I loved seeing him pretend to be a monk and help out the other village. I didn't mind seeing the villagers become scared by the bandits, then try to recruit other samurai before getting their first commitment. I thought the full storyline for one of the villagers, Rikichi I believe was his name, was incredible. We got to see him go from meek and weak willed, to fighting off bandits himself, to leading the whole village in song after they win. I thought the movie had great comedic moments. My favorite samurai, Kichuychi, was hilarious. He had jokes galore, but when it was time to fight, he was serious. He also had the most hero worthy death of all of the samurai. And I don't even care that he wasn't technically a "samurai". He wanted to fight, he gave his life, and he saved the three samurai that made it out of there with their lives. He ruled. I also liked the second samurai they got to join the crew. He was always smiling, always ready to laugh at a joke. But he also knew that he had a job to do, and death was one of the setbacks. He was willing to give his life to fight. The young kid who comes aboard as a student or sorts fascinated me. He wanted so hard to be a samurai, but he also had some fear and he was clearly in love with one of the villagers' daughters. The love story between the two of them fit perfectly within the story this movie tells.

What got me the most, what made me truly love this movie, was the battle scenes. I wrote yesterday about how wonderful all the fight scenes were in the most recent season of "House of the Dragon". None of that is possible without "Seven Samurai" doing it first. From what I read after I finished the movie yesterday, most call this movie the first action movie. I totally see that. This movie has fights and deaths everywhere. The sword work is masterful. The way they shoot bows and arrows is like nothing I have seen before. The hand to hand stuff is rad. There's an early scene where another villager challenges the best swordsman within the seven samurai, and while the fight is short, it is precise and perfect. We get a small glimpse of this samurai's talent and when he cuts down the villager who challenged him, he doesn't gloat or yell at anyone. He simply puts his sword back in its sheath and continues his mission. Growing up I used to watch a ton of Bruce Lee movies. I was obsessed with how they shot those movies and the fact that Lee did his own stunts. Those movies were made in the 70's, with nice cameras and more knowledge. The stuff that Kirosawa did in this movie, the edits, the choreography, the fight scenes, the tension, he did all of that in the early 50's. He was clearly a visionary and way, way ahead of his time. We don't get movies like this anymore. "Seven Samurai" builds and builds until that final scene, where it is an explosion of a battle scene. But I wanted to know everything about everyone in the movie. I appreciated the backstory and how they all ended up joining the fight. I like that each moment was given its space to breathe and to let the audience fully understand what was at stake.

I am ashamed that it took me so long to see this movie, but glad that I remedied that over the past three days. "Seven Samurai" is a masterpiece. I now see what other movies I love have taken from this as an ode when making newer movies. I loved this movie and I cannot wait to dig into more and more of Kirosawa's catalog. "Seven Samurai" rules. 

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

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