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The Story The story is about a clan leader who gives his power to his three sons, only for him to be betrayed. This film is based on a Shakespeare play, but even if you didn't know that, you would still see some of Shakespeare's tropes and clichés in this film, which is very pleasing to see in a film that is a retelling of the original play. The main problem that the film has is that some things are left unexplained, which is understandable since a play is around three hours long and this film is around 2 hours long. The Characters The characters (other than the comedy relief and the clan leader) is really forgettable. We barely know anything about the three sons or the other side characters. The comedy relief is memorable because (even though the film is in Japanese) he is able to speak and acts in the manner of how Shakespeare's comedy reliefs usually do, which is what many remakes of Shakespeare's plays fail to do. The clan leader is memorable because of his decent to madness. You see this well off leader become a shadow of what he once was and it is entertaining and heartbreaking at the same time. The Special Effects Akira Kurosawa's great camera work returns in this film, the great camera angles and the music fit the tone of this film perfectly. It is so good to see that in this film, he is using all of his skills to make the best film he can. The costumes in this film is also very well done, with the amount of detail in the samurai armour is just breathtaking and Kurosawa uses the film's colours as his advantage. Final Thoughts Overall, this is one of the best Kurosawa films out there. It isn't as good as his masterpiece Ikiru (my favourite Kurosawa film) but it definitely takes 2nd place (beating Seven Samurai). Definitely check this one out if you can. The Story 4/5 The Characters 3/5 The Special Effects 5/5 Overall 4/5