Strong and Moving!

Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

a film so unique, intoxicating and bizarre that it not only demands another viewing, but is also forgivable as a satirical comedy where the jokes eventually take the back seat.

It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

The film is about a crazy queen and her equally insane son who are trying to wipe out an entire Japanese clan in order to please their evil god. You see, like most evil gods, this one wants the blood of innocents and can also keep these two freaks alive by bathing in blood as well. Nice folks, eh? Anyway, almost the entire clan is wiped out except for a young princess who is aided by eight samurai--though because of lousy translating, often the film calls them "ninja" (they are definitely NOT the same). In the end, it's the standard good versus evil final showdown and the film is filled with explosions, blood, magic and more explosions.This movie is obviously NOT one you'll mistake for an Akira Kurosawa flick, as it is loud, silly and far from subtle. I knew I was in trouble when I saw that this was an English-dubbed film and not the original Japanese version. My apprehension increased when the film began, as very tacky American disco music blared on my TV screen. Yecch! As for the rest of the film, while the fight scenes were well done and the movie was entertaining, it was a silly and over-the-top effort filled with giant millipedes, snakes, magic crystals and demons. It's best with a film like this just to turn off your brain and enjoy. If you question what you're seeing or think too much, your brain might just explode!

This is a movie so bad, it's good. For instance, when the main dude and the princess pork, it shows her from all these unflattering angles, so she looks fat. Plus, the dude has long hair. In addition, really bad English love music blares through. After they finish porking, a flying, obviously inflatable snake flies into the room and steals her. In another scene, two dudes turn into stone after holding up a support for too long. These are only a few examples of the shear volume of camp and crap in this film. Any other stupid or odd thing that could happen DOES. Like, some old lady turns into a giant centipede. It's so friggin awesome. In short, if you manage to get a dubbed copy of this, GO FOR IT.

Some wonderful pagentry and costumes, but limited actions. This movie has a lot of really great possibilities for some intense character development, but the majority of these threads are cut before the actors have the opportunity to bring out the full potential. The Eight Samurai are closer to being ninja than warriors, some of them not using typical weapons, the young hero fighting with a pair of kama.Some intense magic being used. Instead of using the two hours plus to develop characters and help explain some of the magic happenings, things are really dragged out. The last half hour of the film is by far the best, with some good action scenes and a relatively happy ending. Typical of most Japanese films, the majority of the good guys sacrifice themselves for the good of the whole, with some rather surprising aspects.The sound dubbing is below average on this one, with some drawn out, semi-romantic scenes with 80's pop music thrown in behind them. Most of the special effects, with the exception of the giant 'millipede' are surprisingly good for the era.

more of an RPG movie with each of 8 samurais as RPG characters in a role playing games. each one has their own story and own ending. the fights are great...story is your typical rpg game...princess seeks out 8 samurai to help her destroy evil people....everything's great. the fights...they are great too. especially the one where this man was fighting off everybody in this patio while white (cherry?)blossoms are falling down. one thing.... special effects... kind of corny...but if you can look past the special effects and you're the type of RPG fanatics...this is the movie for you