Spike Jonze

How is this movie? I've heard it's similar to Star Wars. Is this true? Out of 5 stars, what would you rate The Hidden Fortress? Thanks.

nemein

It's supposedly the basis for SW, that's it. I guess there are some similarities; there is a princess, two bafoons (the droids), and I guess Toshiro's character could be thought of as the seed for Han and Luke. However, if you watch it expecting to see a lot of Star Wars elements (plot wise obviously not film wise) I think you'll be disappointed. Check out http://us.imdb.com/CommentsShow?51808 for some more comments and a better explaination. Personally I think it is worth at least a rental if you like samurai movies and/or are a big SW fan. It's worth owning if you are an Akira fan.

[plug]BTW if someone is looking for a "cheap" way of trying it out, I have the import version for trade [/plug]

Grizzly

not one of my favorite Kurosawa films but a **** out of five stars film nonetheless. like nemein already said, those who buy it thinking it'll be alot like Star Wars will be gravely disappointed.. it's a good film though.

heck i'd buy this DVD just because of the GORGEOUS cover. yum!

samurai7

My second favorite Kurosawa film and, by most accounts, one of his favorites also. A great adventure with more comedy thrown in than perhaps any of his other films. This is indeed a 5 star film. How could it not be with Kurosawa directing and Toshiro Mifune starring. Perhaps the greatest actor/director team ever.

Supermallet

A great movie, 5/5 stars. There are a lot of scenes, especially at the beginning, where it seemed as if Lucas took a lot of dialogue for C-3PO and R2-D2 straight from the two peasants. BTW, I have the new Criterion disc and the transfer is beyond spectacular.

Blake

I just got done writing my in-depth review. It should be posted on DVDTalk soon, but until then:

http://www.movielocity.com/d/r.cgi?db=new&ID=1116

I have added some new features - including captures of the various menus, a scan of the disc, along with scans of the booklet included with the DVD.

(this is my new layout and any comments would be appreciated (old layout) - just realize that some links may not work yet)

Spike Jonze

I just finished watching this and all I can say is......you got that right! I really didn't expect this one to be as funny as it was. I thought it was hilarious when Matakishi called Tahei a sh*thead.

Pants

How about the part where Matakishi says, "This Sucks!" What is up with that!!! Pretty strange contemporary subtitles. Still laughing from that one.

Blake

Yeah, on the box they say that they have new, improved subtitles - interesting how they modernized them. I didn't really care for the modern subtitles - would have liked to see how it was originally translated.

dave955

"This Blows!" ?

eXcentris

Well at least they didn't translate it as "This is suckeeeeeeeeee".

Psi

nemein

I finally got around to watching it tonight and some of them did seem a little out of place. If I get a chance in the next couple of days I'll rewatch the import version and see what they have to say about it