Sexyloutak Absolutely the worst movie.

Pacionsbo Absolutely Fantastic

Maidexpl Entertaining from beginning to end, it maintains the spirit of the franchise while establishing it's own seal with a fun cast

Portia Hilton Blistering performances.

fabiogaucho The last days of an era are a common motif in Japanese samurai movies. Apparently there is something regarded as especially tragic in that process, and many movies try to show that. So there is nothing very particular about this movie, in terms of theme. The appeal is mostly in the peculiar main character.The problem is, the movie tries for too much. In the first 50 minutes we are totally engaged by Yoshimura, by his tensions with the samurai group he has joined, the curiosity about his motives, and the prospect of the civil war engulfing their lives. It is a fine drama, with the required sword-fighting on top. Yoshimura is a great character.But the last hour is just incredibly overlong and sentimental. The story goes in the right direction, and the fate of the characters seem a natural development of what was set up. So why make it so long and melodramatic?I think the director thought of this movie as more than another drama/adventure samurai. He wanted an epic. It does not work that way. There are only enough characters and plot for the drama of one man and his friends, not of the entire Japan. Thematically, nothing was added because of the long second half. No great insight about humanity, just a bunch of tears, snow, flowing water, and redundant sad speeches. The very same themes and plot resolution could have been done in 20 minutes instead of 60, and the film could wrap up in a nice 100 minutes, losing nothing. What a shame. In aiming for greatness, what could be a great movie was spoiled. Maybe you could watch it on DVD and play everything after the battle in 2x speed...

mmushrm Just finished watching this movie and have to say that it was excellent.The movie is set in the last days of the Tokugawa Shogunate and the Boshin war. It revolves around a poor samurai who joins the Shinsengumi to provide for his family.The opening of the movie is a little slow and confusing but persevere and you will be greatly rewarded. Doing a quick read up about the shinsengumi will ease the confusion. This movie has all the elements of jidaigeki movie; samurai, honour, swordfights, duty.The ending may be a tad sentimental, it did bring a tear to my eye, but it does end the movie right.Highly recommended.

taishotono Movies in general are never as tightly put together as a well read book, nor should they be because the images are what invoke our memories days later. Mibu Gishi Den is such a work and Kiichi Nakai, gives an award winning performance in the lead. You may remember him for his portrayal of Takeda Shingen in the year long NHK series. For this blue-blood actor, Nakai had to reach for this part, right down to the accent that brings home the country Nanbu Samurai. The beautiful northern Japan area that we get glimpses of in a few of the newer Japanese productions like Twilight Samurai. From Sendai to Karumai, the land and the women are fine enough to keep any combat engineer close to home. The old class system and the wrenching poverty that it kept in place rarely shows through in film. Today people can't relate to either one, here The Last Sword takes several looks at this through the friendships of the protagonist Yoshimura and his close "friend" the Taisho Ono who surely gets booted to the top of the class.Koichi Sato showed range as the reminiscent grandpa, as Best supporting actor his portrayal of Saito is grand enough to reprise in his work a year later in NHK's Shinsengumi (http://www.nhk.or.jp/taiga/) where he plays the antagonist co-leader Kamo Serizawa. Yuji Miyake has an "American Pie" father quality about him. Here he grows up to be the leader of the Morioka clan who supports the losing era. Actually there are no winners here in the era where the seeds of world globalization are planted. It is mostly American Civil war weapons that make the sword impotent. This movie captures a time when a different culture could be found over the next mountain. The real winners here, were the sweep it made at the Japanese Academy awards and the folks who see this film.

UberNoodle I saw this film a while ago, and thought that I should comment on it, now that it appears to have been "discovered" outside Japan.Many have critised Mibu Gishiden (When the Last Sword is Drawn), but I think that seeing the film from the POV of Japanese people might change their opinions.The film is very melodramatic, and manipulative, and perhaps if I didn't live in Kyoto, and work next to Mibu Temple (Yes, where the Shinsengumi (the Mibu ro) often were), I would also be more dismissive of this film. But I have seen Kyoto's fascination for the tragedy of the Shinsengumi, and their futile battle against an unstoppable chain of events. I have seen walked past pachinko palours where battles were fought, and ate in restaurants where people were killed, and sword marks still remain in beams of wood. I have ridden the subway, just a metre away from a crazy fan that only went outside when dressed and fully armed in true Shinsengumi fashion.Perhaps without all of this, I would have dismissed the film in favour of Yoji Yamada's films at the time, and also WTLSID is overly overdrawn. But it is the insight into history, and the exploration into the passions and lives of these historical characters that really makes the film memorable. See it if you can.