Review by Neil Queen
Stars Jun Matsumoto, Daisuke Miyagawa, Masami Magawa, Hiroshi Abe | Written by Akira Kurosawa
UK certification 15 | UK RRP £15.99 | DVD Region 2 | Runtime 118 minutes | Directed by Shinji Higuchi
Fucking hell, is it not just Hollywood? Does Japan have a boner for remakes too? Can we assume that Takaeshi Kitano is locked for a live-action Battle Of The Planets? Can we also look forward to Hello Kitty as imagined by Hayao Miyazaki?
At least in the case of HF: TLP the source is somewhat more weighty than the likes of The A-Team or Clash Of The Titans, instead offering a remake of Akira Kurasawa’s 1958 samurai epic. Now, as the hairshirt aggravates the hell out of my skin, I have to fess up to not having seen the orginal * darts off to the Google and IMDB. Returns slightly better informed * Still, I’m not overly concerned, as this version shows that the story has easily stood the test of time and stands on its own. With her kingdom a touch on the invaded side, Princess Yuki is being escorted, along with her land’s wealth, to a safe haven by her sword-festooned warrior loyalist Rokurota. Along the way, the pair enlist Takezo and Shinpachi, lowly toerags whose wiles can help them travel under the radar of the warlord and his hordes who've caused all the inconvenience in the first place. Allowed the opportunity to connect with her the people who serve her, Yuki gets a crash course in regal responsibility, steeling her resolve to complete the mission.
After a loose opening, it grows into an encouragingly well-acted, tightly directed and engaging adventure, highlighting the highly crafted storytelling bequeathed by Kurasawa. Sadly, it falls short of meeting the needs of a western audience more used to quest movies on the level of Lord Of The Rings, clocking in more at the level of an ambitious TV movie, shorn of any truly impressive set-pieces or notable blood-letting. Tonally, it also lacks a key note of the samurai genre – the palpable pathos that comes from characters being trapped by a pledge of honour that guarantees sacrifice. That’s not given full flight here, despite given chances.
But the major issue is that there’s a dirty great elephant in the room: Hidden Fortress = Star Wars. There’s crappy knock-off Turkish Star Wars, crazy mondo Brazilian Star Wars and kitchy Italian Star Wars aka Starcrash, and this is old school feudal Japanese Star Wars. As previously mentioned, I’ve not seen the original, but was long aware that Lucas had lifted bits from the original, most notably by basing the droids on the two support characters - but watching this version feels like some kind of Star Wars bingo, such is the shamelessness with which Georgie plundered, combined with some production decisions here – the Williams-esque soundtrack, the costume design, the locations and the stunts, all knowingly wink in acknowledgement of the shared turf. The recognition of shared turf becomes tiresome and unavoidable, but does foster an intrigue and respect for the Japanese film-makers’ side of things, as the naïve hippy mysticism of Lucas comes up plenty short of Hidden Fortress’ sharp critque on feudalism and class barriers.
That said, just imagine how much better HF: TLP would have been if they’d lobbed a few AT-ATs in there.
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