This movie was so-so. It had it's moments, but wasn't the greatest.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

The series did roughly follow the James Clavell novel, though much was left out. Partly due to the novel being so complicated, but also because the series was geared less to explain history of 1600 Japan and its relation to Europe than it was to introduce America to Japanese culture when most Americans knew little about sake and ninjas.Visually the movie was pretty, but the story focused far too much on the love affair between Blackthorne and Mariko, wife of another samurai, with their spending a lot of time laying together and saying repeatedly how much they love one another. Enough already, we got the idea. And what about Mariko's husband, he just lets it all happen? (The novel explains how this problem ended up being bypassed.) Good if you want light entertainment, but read the novel for a much more long and complicated but more thorough and logical story.

"Shogun" was one of the best mini-series in television history and a HUGE event when it debuted in 1980. It managed to do something very unusual--it taught history while entertaining. This is because James Clavell's novel of the same name took real history of Japan during its pivotal Shogun period and mixes it with wonderful fiction.The series stars Richard Chamberlain as an Englishman who is shipwrecked in Japan in the 16th century. He and his fellow shipmates are taken prisoner--and he alone is eventually released. After release, this man learns everything he can about the country--both through observation and with the help of a beautiful female guide appointed to him by this Shogun. This plot device allows the audience to learn through Chamberlain's eyes--and this works very well. In fact, EVERYTHING works well due to some wonderful performances, wonderful location shooting, a lavish budget and a lovely artistry. This bittersweet tale is compelling from start to finish and should be remembered along with the best of its era such as "Roots", "The Winds of War"/"War and Remembrance" and "Holocaust". A must-see.

I'm really mad today because I expected to see a good show.Instead I've seen something.Almost everything is changed.I know the book by heart and this changes made me scream and swear all the time.Blackhtorne seems to be quite stopid,Mariko knows English I guess,not Portuguese,Toranaga is just a cruel leader(when he's the main character in the book). What sort of trickery is this? Blackthorne is a great character in the book(Latin is a must,also for Mariko,Alvito is magnificent,Toranaga is the puppet master etc),but they everything look so dull.To bad I can't give it a ZERO! But I tell you a simple thing: "Read the book and open your mind!"

Any movie with this magnificent actor even showing up in a cameo, I give a 10. Actually, the costumes weren't very good, & a lot of the true historical facts were sometimes a little silly, but Toshiro Mifune makes the movie a classic. He's elemental, a force of nature, fantastic. Watch it just to get a glimpse of this wonderful actor's presence & charisma. The movie is based on the book by Clavell, & he did write the part of Toranaga with Toshiro in mind. The movie does follow the book pretty closely, and the book is based very loosely on an Englishman who was stranded on the Japanese Islands in the early 1600's.All-in-all, the movie on DVD is a lot better than the previous video tape that was out.