Too much of everything

It is both painfully honest and laugh-out-loud funny at the same time.

Not sure how, but this is easily one of the best movies all summer. Multiple levels of funny, never takes itself seriously, super colorful, and creative.

Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

*SPOILERS AHEAD*Firstly, I grew up with the original manga series. It was one of the first tastes of Japanese media I ever had and, 10+ years later, it is still a series I hold very closely to my heart. When I heard a Japanese live action was being released, I had my doubts. Still, I was excited to see a real life Kenshin on the big screen. The first movie I could excuse many of the missing plot pieces, I found it far to reminiscent and enjoyable. The second movie...well, my worst fears for this mini-movie series started to come true. Here we are at the final installation and all I could do was say, "ARG" and compliment it with a deep, highly disappointed, sigh. If you haven't read the original manga, or watched the Rurouni Kenshin TV series, I can see where folks might think this was a pretty fun romp through a period piece world. Who cares that character development and common sense went out the window! There was flashy sword fights and explosions. YEAH! Unfortunately for a die hard fan, the well choreographed sword play and cast just wasn't enough to save it. Here are my gripes and likes for this film:First, what I liked: -Takeru Satoh as Kenshin Himura was, hands down, the PERFECT choice. -Though repetitive and poorly placed at times, the music was fun. -All of the sets and places our characters visit really felt natural and well done. -Let's face it, the flashy sword fighting was superb. Very big thumbs up on the choreography. -The Shishio fight was a tad over dramatic, but it was the one point in this movie that I found kept me on the edge of my seat. Plus, key elements of the original story were where they needed to be. -Seta Sojiro was one of my favorite villains, I'm glad he got the screen time he did. Although, I *really* wish they had done away with the screen time of the other Juppongatana (who barely made any worthwhile appearances, anyways) for more depth to be allowed to his character. -Saito Hajime, in my opinion, finally got the bad ass screen play he needed. I was afraid for his character, after the whole chandelier fiasco... -Hiko Seijuro, well cast and well played. I especially enjoyed the flash backs that added a little more depth to both Kenshin and Seijuro. -Megumi Takani, in my book, to be the next best portrayed character. What I disliked: -Lack of character development in far too many characters. -What did they do to Kaoru's character? These movies made her into the stereotypical weak little girl she fights so hard in the original story to *not* be portrayed as. Kidnapped twice. Comatose. Heck, I was waiting for her to get amnesia or something else totally out there. -Yahiko? Who's that? Oh, he was that little kid that showed up every now and then... -Sanosuke. I realize in the manga he had goofy moments (they all did) but they turned him into an underplayed comic relief. Who uses the same fighting moves over and over and over again each fight. It gets old. His was another character I thoroughly enjoyed getting to know in the comic. -Aoshi, need I say more? His story was flimsy and, quite honestly, unnecessary by the third movie. They either should have left his character's story in tact (could've easily been done), or left him out period. -Poor Seta Sojiro. His entire backstory was whittled down to one nonsensical line read off by the monk Anji. As far as the movie goes, his mental break down (if that's what you could call what happened) made him look ridiculous. I didn't feel anything for this fight. Sure, you could argue his "weak vs. strong" mantra was appropriate, but coming out with no build up or reason left this scene lacking. Terribly. -The Purgatory. Maybe they left the ship in there to act as a better "final stage", I could live with that. But taking it from Kyoto, which held very dark memories for the former assassin Kenshin, and moving it to Tokyo? Why? To what point? The ship never lived to sail out of Kyoto, originally. If anything, it should have stayed in Kyoto. And don't even get me started on the sudden blind eye Shishio turned to the police who were building a defense within visible distance of his ship. That whole relationship with Shishio and the police was ludicrous. -Shishio's fighting style. They didn't really explain why his sword kept bursting into flame. -Kenshin's scar. They explained what happened to give him one side to it (via repetitive scenes that really didn't need to be shown 4-5 times), but never delved into how he came to get the cross shape. Maybe this is a subtle hint of a fourth, and final, film? One could argue the origin of the scar doesn't surface until far later in the original series...Those were my biggest pet peeves. Considering they left plot holes and unfinished story, I'd say they've made room for at least one more film. What I would like to see is a mini-series (TV or otherwise) to tell the origin story of the Hitokiri. For those out there who are curious, you can watch the OVA called "Samurai X". It's only 4 episodes. I recommend either watching the complete "Rurouni Kenshin" TV series or reading the original comic, in addition to Samurai X. These shed a much needed light on characters and succeed at telling a masterful samurai story.

This movie had it all, passion, drama, humor and buckets of action. I actually like the change of Shishio getting to sail the Purgatory all the way to Tokyo, because when you have a huge, awesome ironclad like that, it's a crime to destroy it only seconds after it's introduced, like in the source material.Kenshin's time with his master was well portrayed. Fukuyama Masuharo was a great Hiko and really knew how to put Kenshin in his place. As always, Sato Takeru's acting really made Kenshin's emotions shine through.The final battle with Shishio was pulse pounding action all the way through. I also liked how in this version, Shishio wasn't shown to be impervious to everyone's attacks. It makes it much more believable.The scene with Yumi (fans will know what I'm talking about) was sensitively handled and you could see their incomprehensible love for one another beautifully.A few things I didn't like were how Shinomori Aoshi's character was treated. He did some things in this movie that made him seem very irredeemable to me.I also didn't like that Sanosuke's relationship with Anji was excised, as that was a huge moment of character growth for our Rooster.Overall though, the movie delivered a very satisfying conclusion to the live action trilogy.Let us now hope for an adaptation of the Revenge Arc.

I'll say this first – die-hard fans of the manga series would probably not like the movie very much.Well, book fans rarely go gaga over movie adaptations, deeming it inferior to the original due to the lack of detail most of the time. That said, it is lacking detail, and there is changing the storyline until it feels like a different story but with the same characters and a vague resemblance to the original plot.I might be exaggerating, but for a self-confessed Rurouni Kenshin fan, it sure felt that way for a good part of two hours. Picking up where Rurouni Kenshin: Kyoto Inferno left off, Rurouni Kenshin: The Legend Ends launches itself straight into the plot. With Shishio Makoto (Tatsuya Fujiwara) advancing to Tokyo and threatening to take over the country, the weakened Himura Kenshin (Satou Takeru) must dig deep and find out how to defeat him, and fast. And in a stroke of good luck, who else to find him washed up from the sea but his teacher, Hiko Seijurou (Masaharu Fukuyama).Despite the deviation from the original manga, the plot does retain some part that require the audience to have read the manga to fully enjoy. For example, the self-sacrifice required behind the ultimate technique of the "Flying Heaven Honorable Sword Style", and the backstory behind Sagara Sanosuke and "Ten Swords" member, Anji. This lack of information does not take away anything from the plot, but it does seem lacking in some sort without these intricacies.Like the first and second Rurouni Kenshin movie, what the Legend Ends uses to sell itself to non-readers of the manga is probably the sword fighting sequences in the movie. To get to that, however, the audience must sit through 1.5 hours of dialogue with almost next to nil actual fighting scenes. This could be to make up for the lack of character development in Kyoto Inferno, where it was sacrificed for the action sequences. From the dialogue and non-fighting parts, we learn about Kenshin's past, before he was picked up by his teacher, the callousness of the Meiji government, and in general, a lot more evil laughing from Shishio. That is fine for people who want to learn more about the characters and their motivations. But for action fans, I suppose it would be boring. On the other hand, what was not explained was the backstory behind Sojiro's childhood, and how he became with cold, smiling right hand man of Shishio. That would have taken up more time, but it was the most memorable backstory in the manga, in my opinion.And finally, after the huge buildup to the main fight – Shishio vs. Kenshin – the fight disappoints. Perhaps it is due to the need to rush through things, due to the time taken up by story and character development. Perhaps we were desensitized by the other fighting scenes. Or perhaps it is the four versus one (blasphemy!) to wear Shishio down. But Kenshin's supposed victory over Shishio did not seem conclusive.As a whole, the film accessible to all audiences, fans or non-fans of the manga alike. No prior reading is required, although watching Kyoto Inferno before this movie would be recommended. Also, with the Shishio arc in the manga spanning across multiple volumes, the Rurouni Kenshin movies do a decent job in condensing the story to make it suitable for theatres, so kudos for that.

We only needed to wait one month for this much-awaited conclusion to the Ruruoni Kenshin film saga. We were just regaled last August with "Kyoto Inferno." This time we will witness the how "The Legend Ends."The last film ended with our hero Kenshin washed up on a beach badly injured. He was carried off to safety by a new character, which we will learn in this episode to be Hiko Seijuro, Kenshin's former master whom he had not seen for 15 years. The first hour of the film is basically spent on Kenshin training to get his fighting mojo back, as Kaoru was lying comatose in a hospital somewhere. Aside from a brief but exciting fight scene between Master and Student, there was a lot of talk in this hour about the fear of death and the will to live. Momentum really got bogged down by the philosophical arguments.Thankfully, action gets revved up in the second hour and never let up until the end of the film. There was actually not much narrative anymore in this whole final episode. This is just a series of one big fight after the other setting up the climactic fight between Kenshin and Shishio, which we had been waiting for since the last film. There was that elegant fight between Kenshin and Aoshi, whom we already met in the last film as the captain of the Edo Hidden Warriors who wanted to topple the man who toppled the shogun. Then there was a spectacular public execution scene on the beach, which again ended in mass fighting. Of course, Shonosuke will again get his own featured bloody hand to hand fight scene, this time with a Buddhist monk. Kenshin will also get the opportunity to again fight with the ever-smiling Sojiro who dealt him a bad loss in the last film. The ultimate and best, most exhilarating fight scene of all is a four vs. one grand melee to the death. Shishio's flaming sword gives this fight an extra fancy flair. For recent fans like me who have not read the manga or watched the anime version of Samurai X, this last episode is still a very good conclusion to the franchise. This is mostly because of the high-quality choreography and execution of the fight scenes. This is already the third film, yet the fight scenes are still very exciting to watch. More devoted fans may complain about how characters were portrayed or their story lines changed. But for us who did not know better, this film was a great way to wrap up the story. The first film though back in 2012 is still the best one though.