Rurouni Kenshin Live Action Movie Review

 

You've read the manga and you've seen the anime series about a thousand fucking times on Studio 23, now it's time for the live action movie adaptation of Rurouni Kenshin or Samurai X! Lucky for us Filipinos, this movie is now available here for viewing if only for a week. I saw it yesterday at the earliest possible opportunity not because I'm some sort of super fan, but because I want to avoid, as much as possible, the super nerds who will no doubt be cosplaying in the theater and making "Squee!" sounds whenever something romantic happens.

The movie is historical fiction taking place in Japan right after the Japanese civil war. Himura Kenshin is a wandering swordsman, or "ronin", who used to be notorious killer "Battousai the Slasher", but has given up killing to walk the path of peace. Yeah, I know that's technically a spoiler but did you also know Snape killed Dumbledore and "Rosebud" was a sleigh? Christ, you should know this by now. 

Instead of telling you what happened, I suggest you go see it if you're a fan. Here's the quick: 

The Good

If you're a fan of the anime or the manga, you won't be disappointed. The movie here is faithful to the source material. Sure, there's very minor deviations but it's not the terrible and distracting kind.

The actors play the characters very well and convincingly I might add. The characters are exactly what you expect them to be. While all things were great, the performances of the actors playing Sanosuke and Kanryu Takeda were awesome and really stood out. I can't believe how movie!Sanosuke could be so much better than anime!Sanosuke. In the anime Sanosuke was just a boisterous brawler/jobber who, in fairness, had his moments but was always kinda... lame. In the movie, you'll whoop and cheer as you watch him swing his gigantic blade (yes they put that in) and punch people in the face. He's loads of fun. The villain Kanryu is just amazing. In the anime he was always kind of just a generic, corrupt "businessman". In the movie, he is the biggest scumbag I have ever seen. He was a slimy, no-good, loathsome weasel who had morals lower than a snake's asshole. He was so over the top, I laughed my ass off and thoroughly enjoyed watching him be evil.

The sword fights were pretty cool in retrospect. I didn't enjoy them at first but I guess my expectations were unrealistic. I was expecting Keshin to leap up in the air with wind effects while shouting, "Hiten Mitsurugi Style! Ryutsuisen!" while kanji flashed on the screen but they went the "realistic" route instead. I'm glad they did because I was stupid.

The fan service was kept at tolerable levels which is a good thing. I was worried that it was going to be over the top, like a fan service scene happens and the fans all cheer but the regular viewers would just shrug and wonder what it was all about. But really, the story is kept tight with no needless stuff taking up the time. Everything had a purpose.

The music was nice. No out-of-place crap like J-pop or stereotypical Japanese flute and shamisen. 

The Bad

If you're not a fan or don't know anything about Samurai X, you won't get a lot of enjoyment from this film. You'd probably find it good at best, average at worst.

I don't mind subtitles but did they have to make it bone white? I could hardly read it sometimes and the font size was  a bit too small. At least color it yellow or be artistic about it like Day Watch.

This is a story thing but I wish the characters Megumi and Sanosuke had at least one scene where Megumi would tease Sanosuke and stuff. I always found those little things interesting in the anime series. There should have been character interactions other than Kenshin and Kaoru.

I'm just gonna say this but although Saito was awesome in this movie, his big sword scene in the end was kinda lame. I won't say any more.

The sword fights could have been better. I know what I wanted was silly but I think that it could have been improved.

In conclusion, I enjoyed this movie and if you liked the series, you will too. It's a faithful adaptation and a lot of fun.

Watch it early and don't let inconsiderate jerks in the theater ruin it because there will be jerks.