Linbeymusol Wonderful character development!

Majorthebys Charming and brutal

Billie Morin This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows

Scotty Burke It is interesting even when nothing much happens, which is for most of its 3-hour running time. Read full review

NatanSCH This is an epic masterpiece, i am simply out of words. It is a long film but worth every second. Not one minute of the movie is bad, or unnecessary. It is one of the best films ever made because the amazing story, acting, setting, and simply everything else. To be honest, i was looking for its flaws but it doesn't have any. However, if I would have to say something 'bad' about the movie, it would say that the the costumes of the actors feels too 80's like. But that is ok given that it is a 1985 movie.

tankace Akira Kurosawa is among the most respected directors and writers of posrt-WW2 Japan with many of his films been consider as classics and Ran, which in Japanese means chaos is one of them and one of his last work. What I like is the fact that Mr. Kurosawa took inspiration of one of Shakespeare plays, King Lear to be precise and fused it with a historical figure of that era the daimyō Mōri Motonari, but the main plot is more or less the same with King's Lear.So during the Warring State Period of Japan we meet Hidetora Ichimonji a elderly warlord who seen that he is at the end of his life he gather his three sons and divides the area among them but he with retain the title of Lord. For that his youngest son ,Saburo fiercely disagrees with that plan and tells it immediately to his father that his plan is flawed. But Hidetora has none of it and banish him and gives the first castle to his eldest son Taro and the rest two to his second, Jiro. And as it is obvious by the inspiration of king Lear the two brothers treat their father poorly to a point he is reduce to a beggar!And at the same time Jiro seems to overthrow his brother, while Saburo with his allies later master a big army in order to pressure the rest two Ichimonji to take Father under his protection. In the end all of the House of Ichimonji is dead, their main castle is soon to be destroyed and the once prosperous realm is in ruins.Now to the characters for some of them are quit intrigue. I will start with the Ichimonji and then analyses some of their peripheral allies and antagonists. For starter Hiderota while he at first is in peace, he can't see that the brutal method which he used in order to take power have left a lot of grudges against his house and that his sons aren't as united as things. As for his first-born he is an oaf under the control of his wife Lady Kaede, whose castle was the now First castle and in the process her whole family was murdered in the night of her wedding (I guess the George R.R. Martin may took some inspirations) and she has one goal: to stay in her castle and keep it all cost, so she forces Taro to banish his Father and later after Taro is secretly assassinated by a trusted man of is brother Jiro during the siege of their Father's men in the abandoned Third castle, so to look like normal, she seduces Jiro.As for Jiro he is the Petyr Baelish family and he makes plans to take down his brother for him to be the next ruler of the clan, from this actions he seems to be angry that though smarter and better leader from his older brother he never got the recognition he deserved ,but when he becomes the ruler after his brother death he is practically a pawn against Kaede,who is leagues more manipulating than him and in the end she is one of the reasons the Ichimonji fell. As for Saburo he is blunt but not mean ,headstrong but not an idiot, in general he should be the next ruler, but it wasn't meet to be. For closing it will writer about my favorite secondary character,the right hand man of Jiro,Kurogane, although he has the dirty job for his lord ,he is totally realistic and when war is up on them, he is the only person who wants to find a solution with a peaceful way and also the only who see that his lord is "under the spells" of the recent widow of his brother.As for the fighting, is fast, devastating and 100% historically accurate. What I loved is the impact of the early firearm arquebus has for it kills two of the brothers ,Taro in a way to hide a treason and Saburo to deprive him of his victory. Also during the decisive battle of the dominion of the Ichimonji's state the firearm ,turn the table on the bigger Jiro's army who uses just mass attack of infantry and chavarly , but Saburo's troops, dag in the woods and every time the larger army comes to them is slaughtered. This is also true for the period, the introduction of firearms during the second half of the Waring period changed the way Wars were won and lost. Kurosaga intentionally shows firearm like that to make parallels with the atom bomb, the War changed and everyone who didn't not follow then new rules can't survive.All in all is an epic of a film, which though a bit slow it worth your time and gives plenty food for though and analyses of the psychology, war and the hobbesian world of that treason and violence create.

Tweekums This film, Akira Kurosawa's version of 'King Lear' set in feudal Japan, tells the story of Lord Hidetora Ichimonji and his three sons Taro, Jiro and Saburo. The elderly lord gathers his family and talks about how he started off in a small castle but gradually defeated all his rivals and now controls the entire area from the largest caste. He finishes by saying that he had decided to retire; he states that Taro, his eldest son, is to inherit the absolute leadership and Jiro and Saburo will inherit the second and third castles respectively and must support Taro. Saburo, the youngest son, suggests that his father must be mad to stand down arguing it will only be a matter of time before Taro and Jiro turn on him. This leads to Saburo's banishment but it isn't long before his words start to be proved right; first Taro makes his father's position at the First Castle untenable then Jiro refuses his men access to the Second Castle forcing him to head to another castle. Here Taro and Jiro's forces attack; Taro is killed and Jiro takes his place as dominant warlord; Hidetora escapes with his fool but Jiro still wants him dead… anybody familiar with Shakespearian tragedies will know that there won't be a happy ending for any major character.As with his previous adaptions of Shakespeare plays director Akira Kurosawa does a brilliant job transferring the stories to Feudal Japan… their themes fit the era perfectly. It explores the idea of revenge as Lady Kaede, Taro's wife whose family was killed and lands taken by Hidetora, seeks to destroy the family from within. Likewise it shows the thirst for power as Taro then Jiro try to destroy their elderly father despite the fact that he has handed over all the real power. The battle scenes have an epic feel; especially when Hidetora is the sole survivor as the castle burns and arrows fly past him. Hidetora's subsequent descent into inevitable madness is shown as he travels through various places he destroyed on his rise to power. Overall I'd certainly recommend this; you don't have to be a fan of Shakespeare or familiar with Kurosawa's other films to enjoy this.These comments are based on watching the film in Japanese with English subtitles.

theveneficus The German artist Caspar David Friedrich once said that "The painter should paint not only what he has in front of him, but also what he sees inside himself." That is exactly what Director Akira Kurosawa has done with Ran. The story of a 70 year old warlord in feudal Japan who hastily decided's to split his thrown into three and leave it to his sons. Kurosawa was 76 when he directed this film, and shares many similarities with the central character Hidetora. The eldest Taro receives the first castle and becomes leader of the Ichimonji clan. The other sons Jiro, and Saburo are given castle's two and three. As I'm sure you can imagine things start to rapidly go downhill as Taro and Jiro's motives are soon shown crystal clear. Their greed is ultimately what led to chaos sinking its blooded teeth into the land. And soon Saburo who is cast out by his father raises an army in the hopes of securing peace across Japan. One excellent thing I noticed in this film is the subtle foreshadowing implemented into many scenes. There's an early scene where Saburo (who I initially thought would be the bad egg) insults two of Hidetora's subjects. After he's embarrassed his family the brothers get up and leave, but not before Saburo cuts down some bushes and uses them as shade for his sleeping father. That tiny detail cements his love and respect for Hidetora. The central theme to this film is 'chaos'. The word Ran even means chaos. And there's lots of intelligent scenes which foreshadow the oncoming mayhem. Such as short cuts of clouds ever growing larger until they've become uncontrollable storms. I really cannot say enough good things about this film. But this review has stretched on, so I'll leave it with this. Ran, is without a doubt the best Shakespeare adaptation ever put to screen, and in my personal opinion the greatest Kurosawa film there is.