[KFCC] Hidden Fortress Review

Story: Two peasants are mistaken for the enemy as they arrived to late to the war.. While hiding out in the mountains they find a piece of a defeated clans treasure. As the two peasants look for more treasure, they encounter an imposing man who proposes them a deal. They smuggle the royal treasure out together and they get to split the gold. Little do the two peasants know that their companions are the general of the defeated army and the princess. As they start their journey, the peasants greed almost puts them all into enemy hands.

Review: Hidden Fortress is an old black and white samurai movie from Japan, this is a very simple movie from a time where special effects and big budgets did not exist. This movie is credited to being a classic and even inspired George Lucas during his early years in the film industry. The story of Hidden Fortress is very simple but it has all the markings of a epic tale that story tellers could've told hundreds of years before. The story is easy to follow and understand but is also very enjoyable.

The characters in this movie are a very important part in telling the story, there are a few key characters and no distractions. The characters are generally pretty simple, as if playing stereotype roles such as : the mighty general, or the idiotic peasants. This simplicity is perfect, the characters are all very well played and defined, they each have their role in the story. Also the two idiots peasants are pretty hilarious, those two make a perfect match.

Action wise the movie is a more relaxed pace, there are very few fights during the entire movie. None the less, you have this low level tension that can be felt during the entire movie, our heroes are in enemy territory and the slightest wrong move can be the end of it all. That mixed well with the interesting story and will keep you hooked, waiting to see what will happen next. On the down side the movie is pretty long, nothing is rushed in the movie but some people might not like the length factor in the movie.

The Subtitles are very good on the DVD version of the movie, the dialogs are easy to follow, you wont have any trouble on that side. After watching this movie it made us wonder about what happen to the golden age of cinema from the 50's, not just Akira Kurosawa's movies but stuff from Hollywood. There might be something to learn about watching those old black and white movies, they had very limited things to work with compared to today's technology but yet some incredible masterpieces were produced. We are sure that it would be worth checking out some older movies, as for Hidden Fortress is easily said a classic. For those that think old black and white movies suck, you might be surprised of what you will find in watching this movie, at least if you have an open mind.