‘Seven Samurai’ is a Perfect Movie and Here’s Why

A good story is hard to come by these days.

In his video essay, Jack’s Movie Reviews discusses what exactly makes the film Seven Samurai Akira Kurosawa’s greatest achievement. I go further into looking at how its masterful screenplay leans so heavily on things like its actors, each character’s memorable presentation, and the overall structure of the film in order to deliver such an intricately polished story.

The fact is, you can have a great screenplay that results in a not-so-great film. It’s all of the above-listed elements in Seven Samurai which ensure both its writing and the final result tower over all others in terms of achievements in storytelling.

Afterall, you’d be hard pressed to find an over three-hour movie nowadays that’s as able to capture its audience’s attention as well as this one did. Takashi Shimura and Toshiro Mifune are, in my opinion, 80% of this appeal as both actors offer vastly different yet equally compelling performances. One thing to take note of as a first-time viewer would be that the antics of Mifune’s Kikuchiyo were especially striking at the time, as he was the most accomplished actor of the ensemble as well as a skilled swordsman.

Read my article here and watch JMR’s video essay here.

Did you know that an insane amount of films — including A Bug’s Life, Star Wars, and Mad Max: Fury Road — were heavily influenced by Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai? What’s your favorite modern-day movie that took inspiration from this classic?