It's hard to dislike a single one of the characters within this film. Despite the fact that the core cast here extends beyond the usual count for nearly any classic film, the characters we're presented with are all very interesting, easy to relate to, and filled with depth. Unsurprisingly, Kurosawa crafted something beautiful to look at, listen to, and grow with, the action scenes are excellently choreographed, and the pacing is impeccably well suited. A nearly flawless masterpiece.

The characters, action set pieces, and the plot is all memorable and classic. Don't expect any slow-mo geysers of blood or highly stylized fighting but there is definitely lots of suspense and intelligence. Kurosawa smartly kept this film grounded in a degree of realism and used drama to create audience anticipation prior to the action. It's been copied a bunch since then but nothing comes close to the original. No one has depicted a siege as well as this film.

Kurosawa's best is one of the greatest of all time. Real classic.

This fine film has faded somewhat over the years, and is only a necessary watch because of its film historical relevance. It's lots of screaming - Mifunes overacting is especially straining - qoupled with poorly made fight scene totals. (If you can't show it - don't!) Its a beautifully shot film, and a very intelligent story, but it's hyped by people afraid of having an own opinion. Also the whole samurai thing makes it appeal to that largest of audiences: Sad white men raised by women.

It's easy to half-heartedly claim a film to be the greatest of all time. Seven Samurai is one of the very few that can legitimately compete for that title. Kurosawa manages to achieve the impossible: he takes a 207 minute running time and makes every damn second within important, imposing and irresistibly gorgeous.

It is always hard to approach a legendary piece of cinema, difficult to fight the easy options of blithe acceptance of popular opinion or cynical rejection of it. Certainly, Seven Samurai is thoroughly engrossing, like all great films of this length, with few glances at the watch throughout. There are individual action scenes which really stand out. On first viewing, I was not completely convinced of the film's oft-referenced philosophical weight, however this may well change upon second viewing

The vitality and life of the film is quite immense. Toshiro Mifune isn't the only thing here brimming with energy with all the characterisations being interesting, the three hour runtime hurtling past and of course the action scenes, spread out over the extremely fast last hour, which are not just perfectly put together in all departments in a way that puts nearly all modern action movies to shame but are also both exciting and varied.

The ultimate Western is an Eastern. The storytelling is fantastic. The characters are beautiful portrayed with many details and the actors apparently had much fun playing their roles. Lean back and enjoy every minute of battle between good and bad.

I feel almost as if I should apologize to the world for not liking this as much as I should, but I'm just not an action movie person and this was honestly quite boring at times. I know what having done this in the mid-50s Japan meant, and I respect Kurosawa imensely for it. Also, I don't think I know enough about Buddism to understand it fully. I hope I'm more envolved in a second viewing.

#8

Kurosawa invented the action cinema with "Seven Samurai" and created a brand new genre. A vast number of followers were the result. And even half a century later, this movie don´t have to hide behind modern movies. This movie is magic. Story telling, acting, cinematography, sound. Just epic !!

For some reason I couldn't connect to this movie at all. It seemed boring, too old, claustrophobic with the 4:3 aspect ratio and the audio quality was low. Maybe I'll have to watch this one after a few shots of Red Bull or something...

For a three-hour film from the 50s, the camera is surprisingly fluid and fast-paced. The film is astonishingly quick. The battle scenes are technically minor, but there's so much build-up to them, and they're so important, that they feel like the most epic battles you'll ever see on film.

I liked it as history lesson about life in rural Japan in past and combat techniques. But I see it too overrated. Some acting was like from village theater-very affected. And the story was also very simple-black and white. Maybe it was something special in 50s, but now it is not. Despite that it is still worth of watching.

It's amazing to see how a movie from Japan about seven Samurai has had such a great influence on western (cowboy) movies in terms of plot and style. It's really a great action classic and quite enjoyable even for those who normally don't enjoy old black and white movies.

An epic and absorbing experience. Not to mention that this is a tremendously entertaining feature.

A dense, rich epic that never disappoints. Mifune is rightly praised for his stylized acting and charismatic presence, but Takashi Shimura, as the Samurai commander, gives a subtler and richer performance. Indeed, the entire cast--warriors and peasants--is excellent, and every performance is memorably individualized. And--of course--the battle scenes are magnificent.

Easily the greatest action/adventure film of all time. It is an unmatched masterpiece that has been many times imitated, but not even close to being bettered. Humor, action, drama, and a bit of romance, a extraordinary performance by Toshiro Mifune, and a bit of a downer of an ending, make for arguably the greatest film of all time.

About as exciting and thoughtful as any action film you'll ever see. The battle scenes are spectacular and the story is engrossing thanks to the excellent cast. Not one character feels superfluous or one-dimensional. Mifune, of course, steals the show. I still prefer both Ran and Rashomon over this, but that's hardly an insult. The fastest three hours of your life.

It was very good if I had watched at '60s. Now it just can be watched if you really have to.

Saw it at the PFA theater on 7/17/2010. Uses all 3 hours very well, especially in terms of characterization. The love scenes were a bit slow, but other than that, I felt like the pacing was perfect.

It's a movie about samurais, which I'm not that interested in... it's also extremely long. I thought I would hate it, but I ended up loving it. An amazing story and wonderful characters made it so interesting I didn't feel bored for a second. One of my all time favorites for sure.