May 20, 2004 11:55 PM
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(Updated May 21, 2004 12:01 AM)
Toshiro Mifune gives another power-packed performance as the wandering, master-less samurai in Akira Kurosawa’s 1962 movie, Sanjuro. Often regarded as a companion-piece to Yojimbo, which was released the previous year, Sanjuro is another classic “Brain vs. Brawn” movie.
The plot is this:
9 inexperienced samurais decide to expose treachery in their clan. The Chamberlain, who is an honest man, has been imprisoned by the Superintendent, who is responsible for the treachery. These 9 samurais are being hunted by the Superintendent’s men. The mission of these 9 samurais is to free the Chamberlain so that the treachery is exposed to all. Tsubaki Sanjuro, an eccentric, master-less, wandering samurai decides to help them in this mission.
Right from the beginning, the 9 samurais and Sanjuro don’t get along well. The 9 of them always come up with conventional ideas for saving the Chamberlain. Each of these ideas gets them a very sarcastic remark from Sanjuro. He always suggests ideas that, on first thought, would seem to result in disaster. They always disagree. He always explains the significance of his ideas. Most of the time, they understand and act accordingly. His ideas work all the time. Whenever they disagree and execute one of their own ideas, they get into serious trouble and Sanjuro grudgingly saves them with another ingenious plan.
The movie then goes on to show how Sanjuro and the 9 samurais outwit the Superintendent and his men to free the Chamberlain.
Sanjuro features outstanding performances by all it’s actors. Toshiro Mifune, who plays Sanjuro, is brilliant, as usual. He is an absolute delight to watch. The actors who play the 9 dumb, inexperienced Samurais have done a great job looking and acting genuinely dumb and helpless. Tatsuya Nakadai excels in his role as Muroto, the brain among the evil men.
The story, screenplay and direction are very good. The plot, though not as good as Yojimbo’s, is still very interesting. The camerawork is outstanding.
The soundtrack is catchy, like the background music of it’s predecessor Yojimbo. In fact, the very stylish theme from Yojimbo is featured in this movie too.
Since they both have the same theme and the same protagonist, one cannot help but compare Yojimbo and Sanjuro. While Yojimbo is very fast-paced, Sanjuro tends to move on a little slowly. Sanjuro does not boast of the dark humor very abundant in Yojimbo. Comparing both, I would say that Yojimbo is a better movie.
Sanjuro, on the whole, is a good movie. It is funny, action-packed and very entertaining. It is a movie that showcases the triumph of the mind over muscle. Don’t miss it!
PS: Do check out my review on Yojimbo if interested. Here’s the URL:
https://mouthshut.com/readreview/52884-1.html
