After
the amazing first two films, I of course have huge expectations for the
third part which concludes the Kyoto story that was started in part 2
which ended in a massive cliffhanger.The most hyped thing about this
movie is finally seeing Kenshin and the villain Shishio properly clash.
I’m going to avoid retreading anything I stated in previous films so here are the the reviews for part 1 and part 2:
Review of Rurouni Kenshin Part 1
Review of Rurouni Kenshin Part 2
Let’s start with the positive, this movie has one of the best third acts I have ever seen in an action movie ever. The final act is literal 40 minutes of one unbroken action scene. There is a lot of Kenshin vs hordes of bandits to one v one fights to the epic final fight. Every single action and fight scene in this third act is mostly practical still and it has amazing choreography that is just so beautiful. Kenji Tanigaki, the stunt coordinator, is just still amazing as ever and the final fight itself with Shishio is worth the hype . It is seriously probably one of the best fight scene in this entire series and Kenji Tanigaki convincingly made me believe that Shishio could take on 4 guys at the same time.
I already praised the set designers and costume designers from the
previous film reviews but I have to say the design of the ship is great
and I love that the costume designers made beat up versions of their
costumes to make it feel grittier and show the damage these characters
are going through. It really makes the long unbroken fight scene feel
even more believable and grounded.
There
is also a lot more new things in this movie compared the previous ones.
For example there is a lot more use of CGI in this one. However, this
movie does CGI right by having it mostly be use for backgrounds, debris
or one large ship. They are not awful even if its very obvious CGI. For
the final fight, to replicate Shishio’s fire sword from the manga they
of course use CGI but it looks amazing and props to the director for
doing it even if kind of ruins the grounded take of the movies.
Another
new thing they do is monologue. There is a lot of scenes with Kenshin
now where we actually get to hear his thoughts. I stated in the previous
review for part 2 that there was a scene I think should’ve had a
monologue and i’m glad the director used it. Even if it is kind of
cheesy having monologues, it really helps us the audience to understand
more of Kenshin’s mindset and I am for it.
The movie deviates a lot
from the source material this time but I think it was necessary
considering they have to wrap up dozen hours of story into just 2 hours.
Nevertheless, the director succeeds in this department and still
retains the important aspects of the story and make it still gripping to
watch. It’s a very satisfying ending that feels complete and resolved.
So if this was the last one in the series, I would be entirely fine with
it
Most of the praise I stated from the previous films are still here so now I will start going into the negatives.
The
most notable annoyance I have to say is that the first 40 minutes of
this movie is incredibly slow. This first 40 minutes is mostly dedicated
to Kenshin learning a new move and developing the new introduced
character of Seijuro Hiko (Masaharu Fukuyama) who is Kenshin’s master.
The biggest problem is that very little actually happens and Kenshin’s
master is just very irrelevant to what is going on with Shishio right
now. There are still action scenes but they are definitely no where near
as good as the last 40 minutes and in the long run it just feels like
the first half could have been cut shorter. This movie also constantly
uses flashbacks and its mildly irritating. Most of these flashbacks are
in the first half and they are usually flashbacks to the previous film.
It is unnecessary as most people who are watching this film probably
remember most of the things that happened so it just feels like padding
for time. What is worst is when there is flashback to something that
happened 10 minutes ago in the film! There is just absolutely no need
for it and it was really jarring.
Another big issue is how some
existing characters are again getting tossed aside.
Kaoru Kamiya (Emi Takei) who was quite important in the previous film
is now largely irrelevant and just there to constantly yell “Kenshin”
most of the time. Megumi Takani (Yu Aoi) the doctor was irrelevant in
the previous film and is also still irrelevant here and only has one
scene despite this film largely being in Tokyo now. Sanosuke Sagara
(Munetaka Aoki) has more scenes and fight scenes than other supporting
characters but there isn’t any legit reason for him to be there but he
is pretty cool and his fights are really awesome so whatever.
Aoshi Shinomori (Yusuke Iseya) returns to finally get his dream fight
against Kenshin. He goes through a character arc and character
resolution that feels very bare bone and undercooked which is sadly a
consequence of having to cram everything in one film.
I also have a
minor issue with how this was gets resolved but this isn’t really the
directors fault. It is mostly a problem with the actual source material
but seeing it in live action still makes me feel the same. Shishio felt
like a tangible, urgent and genuine threat in Part 2 but here his plan
just feels very weak and not as threatening. The way the final fight
ends is also pretty cheesy and a slight cop-out but again this is also
because of the source material.
I did give this film a lot more criticism than previous entries but despite that I still came out of this really enjoying it. This is the 3rd entry in a series and because of that, the first 40 minutes of the movie is still watchable as we are already invested enough and care about what these characters are going through. Additionally, the action scenes are probably one of the best in the entire series and surpass so many America action movies. This film has so many complex yet gorgeous shots with the best sword fights in movie history that the flaws are almost inconsequential. I love this movie and hearing that there are 2 more sequels coming makes me ecstatic. If you have not watch this trilogy of movies then now is probably the best time to watch it.
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