EdgeOfForever wrote:
heatseeker wrote:
grandbazaar wrote:
heatseeker wrote:
Watched the first half of Seven Samurai and I don't understand why everyone goes apeshit over this movie. Although it's quite good for the time period it came out of, it's really just mediocre. It has a good story (so far) but is marred by horrible cinematography, pacing, etc., essentially just poorly made, which is understandable considering it's so old, but still.
The pacing with that movies is fine, you don't even notice the time passing by as you sit riveted to your TV screen. I guess not everyone can be a fan of Akira Kurosawa's films (who is known for his excellent cinematogrophy, so part of the comment above has me stunned).
The pacing isn't bad after the beginning, but you're thrown into the story so quickly I was just kind of like "Oh...". There's basically no exposition. And while I'm no movie expert, I can tell really bad camerawork when I see it...that part where they're watching the two guys fight with sticks and it goes from their faces to guy A to their faces to guy B and back to their faces about 4 times is comically bad. Ah well, I guess it's not for everyone. It's not horrible, I would just say that it's okay. Probably not going to finish it...
Maybe you should try starting with some other Kurosawa film. Personally I found Seven Samurai to be the hardest one to like, with the exception of Dreams. Granted, I haven't seen very many of his films, but I think you should check out Ran, or maybe Yojimbo.
Dreams was the first Kurosawa film I saw, and since then, it remains my favorite movie.
And yes, Seven Samurai is really hard to appreciate. I've seen it twice, and I still don't have too much of a grasp on it. I have immense respect for the movie though. It was truly innovative. The Magnificent Seven, as much of a total rip off as it is (shots are literally lifted verbatim), actually put Seven Samurai into context a little bit, especially considering I saw The Magnificent Seven almost right after Seven Samurai. It's kinda like a companion peice that almost translates Seven Samurai for you.