Kagemusha (Shadow Warrior)

Amazon.co.uk Review

The 1970s were difficult years for the great Japanese director Akira Kurosawa. Having been unable to secure full Japanese backing for his epic project Kagemusha, the 70-year-old master found American support from George Lucas and Francis Ford Coppola, who served as co-executive producers (through 20th Century Fox) for this magnificent 1980 production--to that date the most expensive film in Japanese history. Set in the late-16th century, Kagemusha centres on the Takeda clan, one of three warlord clans battling for control of Japan at the end of the feudal period. When their leader Lord Shingen (Tatsuya Nakadai) is mortally wounded in battle, he orders that his death be kept secret and that his "kagemusha"--or "shadow warrior"--take his place for a period of three years to prevent clan disruption and enemy takeover. The identical double is a petty thief (also played by Nakadai) spared from execution due to his uncanny resemblance to Lord Shingen--but his true identity cannot prevent the tides of fate from rising over the Takeda clan in a climactic scene of battlefield devastation. Through stunning visuals and meticulous attention to every physical and stylistic detail, Kurosawa made a film that restored his status as Japan's greatest filmmaker, and the success of Kagemusha enabled the director to make his 1985 masterpiece, Ran. --Jeff Shannon

Customer Reviews:

FLAT AS A PANCAKE!.......2007-08-17

If you're looking for serious action then leave this one well alone. I only suffered the first hour and there was not one single 'fight' in that time. Both my hubby and I are serious fans of Chinese / Japanese movies but this ones so boring it's torture!

Excellant piece of Cinematography.......2006-10-06

The film is visibly stunning: the costumes, sets, landscapes etc.. The acting is of the highest quality and you find yourself being totally absorbed. However, i must admit that i was very dissapointed by the far below par battles (or lack of them). One of the biggest battles in Japanese history is over in a couple of seconds without any battle choragraphy or hand to hand fighting?? This lets the film down desperatly, as the whole film builds up to the final battle, which you never really see. However the costumes, stories and acting make it a film well worth adding to your collection.

Disputed Classic by an Undisputed Master.......2006-08-11

Kurosawa's last two samurai films are the tragedies, "Ran" and "Kagemusha". In terms of spectacle and scope, both are masterly, with each boasting set pieces to rival the rain-soaked battle that closes "Seven Samurai". Nevertheless, the spectacle here is only there to serve the story: a bleak, almost nihilistic vision that delivers a very different viewing experience from that of genre movies such as "Yojimbo". As the varying experiences of the reviewers here attests, "Kagemusha" is not a clear masterpiece, but there is a strong argument for counting it amongst Kurosawa's most substantial and impressive works.

In the hands of a Western director, the basic story (of a thief posing as a warlord's double) might well have been played purely for laughs. Indeed, within the sedate, solemn pacing of the film there is a lot of room for warmth and humour in the film's first half, but the later stages move strongly towards the desolation of "Ran", and the battle sequences offer no real release from the gloom. Indeed, the elaborately staged Battle of Nagashino (one of the most celebrated in Japanese history) exists within the film almost purely as a symbol of the clash between the Samurai period and the birth of a Modern, more ethically compromised, Japan. Those looking for suspense, action and swordplay will be disappointed.

I've seen this film several times over the years, and while there are several of Kurosawa's films that I enjoy more, I would place this right up there with his greatest. While some critics hold that Tatsuya Nakadai's performance is weaker than Toshiru Mifune might have given in the same role, this accusation strikes me as baseless; both here and in "Ran" Nakadai proves a genuinely masterly actor in his own right.

This will always be a film for a more patient and contemplative viewer, but I'd heartily recommend it.

Politics and intrigue in 16th century Japan........2006-03-02

To really appreciate Kagemusha it helps to know something of Japan in the 16th century, plus it helps to watch it more than once! This film isn't your usual Akira Kurosawa samurai battlefest. It is about the Kagemusha or shadow warrior, the man whose seeminly impossible task is to impersonate Takeda Shingen, one of the greatest daimyo of 16th century Japan who died in battle.

Unfortunately the man chosen for the job to imperonsate Shingen and to keep the Takeda clan together is a thief and it takes him a while to get to grips with the enormity of his task. At first he doesn't take to it but eventually he grows into the role and really begins to fool people.

The characters are really well done, especially Oda Nobunaga and Tokugawa Ieyasu (two of the most important figures of Japan's past) who are the chief enemies of the Takeda clan and it is at Nagashino that the film ends and these adversaries meet. The ending is quite unexpected. This is a really good film and it's a shame Kurosawa didn't do more historical movies.

disappointed.......2006-02-16

After reading the film discription and the reviews I thought to myself this film sounds alright. The storyline wasn't too bad and as different clans and warlords were involved it sounded like it would be a good action film with the typical Japanese fighting scenes. Oh, how wrong I was. The opening scene bored me to death, I kept watching because I felt I had to give it a chance. The fight scenes were short and....well..rubbish. Nothing exciting ever happened and I thought the ending was a bit pointless aswell. Overall - waste of my monthly DVD's.

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