MovieRankingReviews

  One Piece is one of my favourite manga. I was genuinely flabbergasted when I heard that there was going to be a live-action adaptation of this. One Piece is a very weird and wacky world that I just don’t believe could be brought accurately into live-action. Additionally, Netflix was going to make it and they have failed miserably with manga/anime live-action adaptations. Death Note completely butchered the characters and was not a faithful story. Cowboy Bebop had none of the charm of the anime with terrible writing and also not a faithful story. My expectations for this were at an all-time low but the creator of One Piece, Oda, was involved in this project. So maybe 3rd time is the charm? The first thing I noticed from the first couple of episodes, was the stunning set designs and costumes. I was surprised at the amount of practical sets that felt like great replications of places in the source material. The iconic ship, The Going Merry, looks 1 to 1 exactly like i...

  This sequel is 130 minutes of our main character, Shin, fighting in a war. We get great action set pieces after another, each of them being well-choreographed. Kento Yamazaki returns as Xin and is still lovable but the new character Qiang Lei, played by Nana Seino, is the new highlight. It is an incredibly fast-paced thrill ride! The film captures the scale of the war but it does still have that same issue from the first where they kind of make it too light-hearted. The plot is weaker as well since it is mostly just the war with some character development for Xin and Qiang. It is also disappointing to see 2 of the original main trio, Ying Zheng and He Liao Diao, do nothing in this entry. It does feel a bit long for what feels like a minimal plot as well. Still, wish more people were watching this as it is still very entertaining.

  You know a movie is good when, despite knowing what is going to happen, it still punches you in the feels.

  Rurouni Kenshin live action movies are a prime example on how to adapt the manga to live action. Since the live action movies have concluded, I thought it would be great to rank them. 5 - Rurouni Kenshin: The Final My Rurouni Kenshin: The Final Review Rurouni Kenshin: The Final is a satisfying conclusion for our group of characters, even though technically it ain't the final film in the franchise. It has an amazing final fight and the rest of the fight scenes are good too. The problem is that the rest of the fights are just "good" but not insanely memorable. It also has a pacing problem and constant flashback problem including an flashback that spoils the prequel that comes out after completely to the point of ruining it. 4 - Rurouni Kenshin Part 1: Origins My Rurouni Kenshin Part 1: Origins Review This is how you start a franchise! The movie manage to successfully cover all the important aspect that happened in the source material and cram into 2 hours. It ...

  Rurouni Kenshin: The Final is the 4th entry in the franchise, but not the final entry despite its name. I was genuinely surprised when they announced they would be making 2 more in the franchise and it would be the final ones. I was very stoked about it as I love the franchise as they are one of the few live-action manga movies that deliver. The premise is “In 1879, Kenshin and his allies face their strongest enemy yet: his former brother-in-law Enishi Yukishiro and his minions, who have vowed to take their revenge”. So does Rurouni Kenshin: The Final stick the landing or should it have just remained a trilogy? Firstly, Rurouni Kenshin: The Final continues to deliver on the authentic and beautiful set design with sumptuous costuming. Naoki Sato also returns to score the movie with him bringing a more sombre theme for both Kenshin and the main antagonist that is very effective. The cinematography by Takuro Ishizaka is visually stunning at times with some shots that ...

  Rurouni Kenshin: The Beginning is the 5th and final film, despite its name, in the franchise. It is a prequel focusing on Kenshin’s past as the assassin Hitokiri Battōsai during the final years of the Bakumatsu. The premise “Before he was a protector, Kenshin was a fearsome assassin known as Battosai. But when he meets the gentle Tomoe Yukishiro, his story begins to change”. So is this a wonderful final outing or a story not worth watching? Firstly, a lot of what makes Rurouni Kenshin great is still here. The actors are all phenomenal including the new cast in this entry, the set design is as authentic as ever, the costumes are all great, the score by Naoki Satō who returns from previous films is still wonderful, the cinematography by Takuro Ishizaka is still as gorgeous as ever, the story is still really engaging even if it is slightly predictable. I’m not going to rinse and repeat my reviews from previous entries in the franchise, but they are all still here and ...

  NOTE: This is a review of the 2019 Japanese movie based on the manga by Yasuhisa Hara. However, these was a Korean Netflix series with the same name which was released in the same year. Very confusing but this is about the movie.  Unlike Rurouni Kenshin live action movies, I have no idea about the source material. I know it has 3 seasons of anime right now but I haven’t really considered giving it a read or watch. I stumbled upon this movie after looking into any other Japanese movies based on manga and this came up.  The basic premise is a once slave boy named Xin (Kento Yamazaki) unites with a king Ying Zheng (Ryo Yoshizawa) to help him reclaim his throne from his evil younger brother Cheng Jiao (Kanata Hongo). They battle assassins, mountain people and huge armies in China.  My first praise is the story which is pretty well told and intriguing enough to keep me invested. The story isn’t the most original and is clearly inspired by chinese stories...

  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...

  Due to the massive success of the first film, it is no surprise that it was going to get a sequel. However, it wasn’t just one sequel but a two parter sequel that was filmed back to back. I’m not a huge fan of part 1 films as they tend to drag but is this the case for “Kyoto Inferno”?  Director Keishi Ōtomo, Cinematographer Takuro Ishizaka, composer Naoki Satō and nearly the entire cast from the first film return for these sequels. so I’m going to try and avoid retreading all the praises I gave them from my review of the first film here: Review of Rurouni Kenshin Part 1 The story is simple,  Kenshin reluctantly agrees to go to Kyoto to help stop Makoto Shishio and his warriors from overthrowing the new government.  Makoto Shishio (Tatsuya Fujiwara) has one of the most amazing villain introductions in a film ever. He is WAY more of a threat than any of the villains in the first film and genuinely seems like a good reason for Kenshin to ret...

  I read the manga of Rurouni Kenshin a long time ago but never did watch the anime. Still, live action adaption of manga have so far proven to be very lackluster especially American adaptions. Some examples that come to mind include Death note, Ghost in the Shell and Dragonball Evolution. Even from Japan some live action adaptions are terrible like Attack on Titan and Fullmetal Alchemist. So I came in with relatively low expectations. The basic synopsis of the story is a Meiji era assassin named Himura Kenshin (Takeru Satoh), The legendary Battousai, who leaves his life behind to protect the common man and vowing to never kill again. He then has a chance meeting with Kamiya Kaoru (Emi Takei), the owner of a Kendo school left to her by her father, and from there on his life isn’t quite the same. Will the director (Keishi Otomo) deliver an excellent adaption or just a really cheap cash grab? Firstly, the story is interesting and intriguing which is no surprising consi...