Second Trailer for HIDDEN FORTRESS: THE LAST PRINCESS…L.A. Premiere on April 27th

Reader Comments

1. Vladimir 04/17/2008 @ 2:19pm

   I noticed that Japanese in the movies speak using weird intonations. Do they speak the same way in real life?

2. ilovetofu 04/17/2008 @ 10:12pm

   Japan premiere news report: http://youtube.com/watch?v=M1_C_MBDnvs

3. Don 04/17/2008 @ 10:17pm

   No, it’s just a combination of bad acting and poor direction.

4. TheDoug 04/18/2008 @ 1:03pm

   Some things just shouldn’t be re-made, and this is just one example!!!

5. pochiW 04/18/2008 @ 1:28pm

   These AK remakes are like Norman Bates: remembering mama by putting on her dress and a ratty old wig.

6. iamsheep 04/19/2008 @ 7:20am

   Is that fake facial hair on the main guy?

7. Don 04/19/2008 @ 7:39am

   Absolutely. Matsumoto Jun is a member of Johnny’s Jimusho idol group Arashi and has a busy television and concert schedule, so there’s no way he’d be allowed to grow facial hair for the role. I’m not sure why they allowed the film’s make-up staff to give him such ridiculous fake fuzz though. I believe his character’s name translates into English as “Teen Wolf” (kidding).

8. iamsheep 04/19/2008 @ 7:59am

   Don...your response is very informative...however the fact that you know so much about him troubles me.

   The recent samurai movies out of Japan all have a quasi-manga feel to it...whatever happened to that gritty realistic take? I have yet to see anything close to that “lived-in” feel of Seven Samurai that i love so much...just felt so authentic (at least to my foreign eyes)

9. Don 04/19/2008 @ 7:02pm

   Samurai movies or “jidaigeki” these days are generally either fairly subdued affairs aimed at older audiences or flashy genre-bending revamps for teens like the Hidden Fortress remake, which from what I’ve read is more influenced by Star Wars than Kurosawa’s movie, or the “Azumi” movies and the upcoming Ayase Haruka-starring female Zatoichi flick “Ichi”. Simply put, gritty realism doesn’t put bums on seats, and talent agencies are more interested in cultivating pretty young non-threatening multimedia idol actors than old school macho badasses. One reason is that big-budget films and television dramas tend to be skewed towards female audiences, whereas the straight-to-video market panders heavily to males (which explains the prevalence of yakuza stories, horror and soft-porn).
   One of the best jidaigeki of recent years, Kore-eda Hirokazu’s “Hana”, failed precisely because it didn’t fall neatly into any of those categories, and despite the presence of another Johnny’s idol in Okada Junichi in the lead role.

10. ilovetofu 04/28/2008 @ 8:36pm

    hmmm.. now i’m interested to watch “Hana”. Okada Junichi is a big motivation.

    I’ve been reading mixed reviews by the some Japanese bloggers. Purist Kurosawa lovers of course bashed it but the other half really enjoyed the film. With the hype of the US screening, maybe it’ll have a US release.

11. Kamu 05/05/2008 @ 11:29pm

    I wouldn’t be so quick to put such harsh judgments on this movie. This remake looks awesome. Not to mention it has Matsumoto Jun as a lead, and with him theres no way this movie could be bad. If you know anything about him, then you know he is an amazing actor with several well-know doramas up his sleeve Gokusen, Kimi wa Petto, Hana Yaori Dango just to name a few. All I hope is that if there’s even a small chance of this being released in the US, that they will.

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