Amateur movie with Big budget

Absolutely amazing

Clever, believable, and super fun to watch. It totally has replay value.

Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

This is one of those movies that lack depth, but has entertainment value. Takashi Miike is known for his comic book style of film making because of some of his movie and this is no exception. It really does have that comic book style going for it, with a bit of grindhouse feel to it. In fact you can tell what approach this movie will take just by the intro with the cameo with Quentin Tarantino. The plot isn't anything groundbreaking, but I like the style and premise of the movie. I also liked how just about every character stands out in this, including the gang leaders. Another thing I will mention is the fact that despite all the characters speaking English, subtitles are needed in order to understand completely what they are saying. The movie has some flaws but some of the elements sort of makes up for it. The cross between western and samurai style sort of actually works and the fast pacing leaves the movie from having any dull moments.6.8/10

This Japanese-Italian crossover is a homage to the great spaghetti westerns of the 1960's and 70's. The oh-so familiar plot is reminiscent of Akira Kurosawa's masterpiece Yojimbo, later remade by Sergio Leone as a western with A Fistful Of Dollars. A brooding gunslinger arrives in a small town that has been torn apart and occupied by two warring clans - the reds and the whites. After advertising his expert gun skills up his arrival, he at first offers up his services to the highest bidder, but after realising the peril faced by the town's innocent natives, he decides that he can put his skills to better use and wage a war against the clans. All of this is seemingly told by a mysterious stranger played by Quentin Tarantino, who introduces the film at the beginning.After the truly cringe-worthy opening scene, in which the aforementioned Tarantino shows off his acting 'skills' and mows down a few faceless bad guys and talks tough, the film seems to pick up some pace. The opening is deliberately designed to look cartoonish, with plastic looking sets and over-the-top blood spraying. It just doesn't work and thankfully moves away from this style and takes on a more traditional method. For all it's trying, the film never leaves second gear. The familiar storyline doesn't offer anything I've not seen before, and the decision to have the Japanese actors speak in broken English with subtitles is an interesting idea I suppose, but just becomes slightly annoying and confusing. I would expect better from a director such as Takashi Miike, who made the excellent Audition and Ichi The Killer. I just pray he doesn't become another homage-loving filmmaker like Tarantino.www.the-wrath-of-blog.blogspot.com

...and fails, on almost every level. I have been an avid fan of Miike for years, ever since I saw "Fudoh: A New Generation" in the mid-nineties. So it was particularly upsetting for me to witness this, his first try at "sell-out cinema." The evidence appears with the opening scenes, when a haggard "It-boy" Quentin Tarantino appears for a pointless cameo. Correct me if i am wrong, but Tarantino is supposed to be a Miike fan, not the other way around. After all, it was Tarantino who made a name for himself mimicking the style of guys like Takashi Miike, right? Anyway, Miike has all of his Japanese actors speaking English. why? Could it be because the targeted audience for this one won't or can't read subtitles? Slapstick comedy meets flashy violence and drama. That rarely works, and it doesn't here. The evidence of this being a film from the master are certainly there; some wonderful imagery and stylish, hallucinatory sets and some great, gratuitous violence as well. But this film doesn't know what it wants to be; it desperately wants to be cool, and to be a "hit" with the American crowd, but it is too avant-garde to be accepted by the mainstream crowd, and too dumb to be embraced by lovers of Japanese pink and samurai films, which are always beautiful, and quite serious. I think that this director is too twisted to make a mainstream film, and it is evident here; he couldn't resist going into obscure territory at times, with his characters acting insane with no explanation, and the extreme violence to women harken back to the pink films from the 70's. Make up your mind; what are you trying to create with this film? Maybe you tried to please everyone, and wound up pleasing no one?I must be losing my mind; i'm ranting to Takashi Miike and he's not even here.. All I can say is that I am disappointed and I hope that the creator of so many seminal art-house films goes back to making the kinds of films that he is known and loved for. Remember "Big Bang Love?" How does one go from that to... this?? And why are these artists so intent on being like Hollywood, an artless, tacky machine that died years ago? money isn't everything guys...

This movie will be loved by fans of old Akira Kurosawa samurai films crossed with old westerns with a touch of Tarantino story play. It is a little like Yojimbo meets Pale rider.First I want to clear up a significant error that most reviewers are making comparing this movie to Spagetti westerns. This movie is NOT a copy of a Spagetti westers. In fact most Spagetti westerns ARE copies of old Samurai films many written by Akira Kurosawa. This movie has similarities with Fistfull of dollars which came out in 1964. But Fistfull is a almost word for word copy of Yojimbo which came out in 1961, just substitute a gun for a sword. Anyway BOTH Sergio Leone and Akira Kurosawa made wonderful movies.OK let me start by saying the story only starts slow...and kind of cheesy with the whole Tarantino sitting around a campfire with fake Mt Fuji in the back. But all the old westerns and samurai films should have trained you to be patient in the first 15min.The filming is brilliant has just enough color in the background, just the right amount of lighting, nice mix of angry close-ups on hero and bad guys faces. Where the movie excels in a way Kurosawa would be proud is the well used special effects mini explosion bullets, exploding blood packs and my new favorite big bullet holes. There is a lot of clever little homage bits like Eastwood's poncho and Van Cleef's long shot gun.The only points off are for the dumb part by the sheriff. It would have also been better with more sword fighting.Near the end there is a nice homage line "This is for Akira"