Bad Acting and worse Bad Screenplay

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

If you like ninja-samurai movies, this one is perfect for you. Sure the characters are a bit manga like, but the action and the whole universe is amazing. Actually, the costumes and the settings were realistic and created an atmosphere of authenticity. The story is quite catchy as well, and entertaining to boot. In addition the characters were interesting and the good performances helped a lot to support the movie, as it had many sword fights. The action scenes were well executed and didn't look fake. The soundtrack supported the mood of the movie as well. So, 8 out of 10.

I watched the Rurounei Keinshin OVAs back in the day and I found them excellent, both artistically and plot-wise. The seriousness of the work made it a perfect anime for mature audiences. Then, I started to watch the prequel series and I couldn't go further than the 6th episode or so. The series were a joke, a lighthearted anime for kids full of clichéd jokes and the typical ever so powerful enemies ala Naruto, Bleach or even Dragon Ball. I almost found it offensive to be a continuation of the OVAs. The story of Himura Kenshin should have been finished with those OVAs.Now, this live action movie is based on the series, so you can expect what to find. Granted, most of the silly humour is gone, although it completely misses any sense of maturity found in the OVAs, since the story is that of the series. I literally dozed off through the first hour of the film, being quite dull and unnecessarily slow and lacking action. After that first hour, the action starts appearing and things get a bit more interesting. Not as much as to really give great credit.Alright, you have good and fast swordsmanship in a couple of fights. That hardly count for over 2 hours of movie. And what's with the physics of that huge sword the brawler wields? Ridiculous.We do have a few minutes long flashback about how Kenshin got his first scar, although it gives zero real screen time to the lady who gave him the second scar, and I find that outrageous. Alas, you won't be missing anything if you decide to skip this movie. If you are a fan of the series, you might have some fun jumping around seeing your heroes in the flesh. However, I can only imagine that those who get excited by this fact would jump around with a set of keys being shaken over their heads.This movie should be 1 hour shorter. Or based on the OVAs.

It's 1868, after the end of the Bakumatsu war, and the former assassin Kenshin Himura promises to defend those in need without killing. All the characters struggle against a system that has perpetuated falsehoods, and there are fisticuffs back and forth. The content isn't for everyone. It is difficult to watch and has no shortage of violence, abuse and neglect. There are slow spots, but to me the movie is too good to dismiss based on them. It is depressing and hard to watch and definitely not a movie for those who are easily bothered by the content mentioned above. This is a gritty, hard movie about gritty hard people, but it's also intelligent.

I have not seen the original Anime or read any of the Manga books this is based on. So it was an introduction to me to the universe and the movie does begin with an introduction. It might not be easy at times to follow for some people to follow for different reasons (who's bad, who's good in the story). But this is also the reason this might stay in mind a little longer than other movies.The action scenes are more than decent and you do get violence depicted as what it is. Blood will flow and people die. Still there is a morality to it all, which has to do with the main character. Either you are down with what it tries to do and can get behind it or you don't like it all. I liked it and think it's worth a look