MovieChat Forums > SF: Episode One (1998) Discussion > Would of liked this movie alot...

Would of liked this movie alot...

posted 19 years ago by tengsv
10 replies | jump to latest

Usually I watch Samurai Movies for some katana blade action with a good story. (with the exception of twilight samurai, which was good) I loved the rock soundtrack by Hotei and the lively characters.

I didn't mind the black and white, but this movie would of been a favorite if they actually took some time to choreagraph some decent fights into it. The fights look like crap and it destroys the image of the main bad guy who is suppose to be a badass sword master. Even the fights from old Kurosawa movies look better than this.

[–] okami_ito 19 years ago

EVEN the fights from old Kurosawa movies? I can't believe it! I guess it's folks like you who spend their money for crap like "Kill Bill".

[–] zillion29 19 years ago

Whoah, was that really necessary? Everyone looks for something different in a fight scene. Old vs. New vs. New trying to pay hommage to Old - who's to say one's better than the other?

[–] 19 years ago

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[–] nemuro8 18 years ago

I guess thats why its listed as a Adventure/Action/Comedy. Its a light hearted approach to the samurai genre. Actually staying true to it more than most movies these days.

Hiroyuki Nakano is known for mixing traditional with pop culture, so this is what is the result.

[–] kpjf 18 years ago

I think the original poster was referring to the fact that nowadays with technology fight scenes can look a lot better than years ago, say in kurosawa's 1950's era, due to technology and everything.

I don't think its a dig, its pretty clear that kurosawa in his era couldn't have had fight scenes that looked real, ie say a sword going into someone's body etc due to lack of cgi, and so on

[–] 18 years ago

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[–] FZ-FX 17 years ago

The quality of Kill Bill's fight scenes pretty much vary in my opinion. I wasn't a huge fan of the H2H scenes in part two (the initial fight in part one was decent), but the Crazy 88 battle was good not so much because of the skill of its participants or even the choreography (though both of those were there to some degree), but because of Tarentino's exellent direction and the sheer ludacracy that built up more and more as it continued. Not the best ever like some people think it is, but hugely entertaining and brilliantly shot.
And yes, the classic Samurai films have some of the greatest sword fights in history. What they lack is violence and style they make up in skill. In addition to Kurosawa there is plenty of great swordplay in classic Samurai films (Harakiri and Sword of Doom are two of my favorites).

[–] IdleFingers 17 years ago

The fight scenes were no where near as stylish and polished as something like Kill Bill. But I think that's what the director was going for, a throwback to the glory days of the Samurai films... the same films that inspired such movies as Kill Bill.

Most Samurai movies usually have a slower paced fight scenes anyway. The fight scenes were decently choregraphed, except the one when Habei is attacked in the gambling house by those buffoons. I would have to agree that that scene was either not well choregraphed or poorly executed.

How troublesome...

[–] somers001 17 years ago

this has nothing to do with anything, but Hara-Kiri had some of the worst and most breif swordfighting I have ever seen. Which is the film's only downfall.
Your other reference, Sword of Doom, had some of the best. anyway, I'll be seeing SF soon, I hope the swordfighting isn't as bad as Hara-Kiri. (a "Samurai Rebellion" quality would be nice.)

[–] tm_brown91 16 years ago

I'm sure most have you have seen Oldboy. It wasn't really about the action I know, but it had some of the best action sequences i've ever seen. My favorite action scene from that film was the famous "one-take" hallway shot. The action choreography was brutish and it wasn't beautiful or complicated, the way lots of these new films are doing it, but it stayed truer to real actual combat, which I'm sure never really goes as planned. If Chan Wook Park was japanese I think he could make one of the greatest Samurai films ever. But this looks like a great film regardless of the action sequences. I'm sure it wasn't so awful that it ruined the film's credibility.