Starring: Toshirô Mifune, Tatsuya Nakadai, Masao Shimizu, Yunosuke Ito, Takao Irie, Reiko Dan, Kamatari Fujiwara, Keiji Kobayashi
Certificate: 12
Genre: Samurai
Awards: None
In the follow up film to Yojimbo, Kurosawa returns to the nameless warrior in a new adventure. This time a group of nine warriors have been tricked by a criminal and are saved from assassination by Sanjuro who then joins them on their quest to rescue the sheriff of their village.Sanjuro has a lighter tone than Yojimbo due to its use of comedy and lack of torture scenes. Mifune works brilliantly with the same character in a different environment. Whilst in Yojimbo, he was the lone wolf who could do whatever he pleased, here he becomes the leader of the group and, after an order from a hostage he frees, has promised not to kill unless necessary. These are new challenges and therefore new sides to his character come out. Nakadai also returns as a new villain - Hanbai - and again shows what a great actor he is.
Like Yojimbo, this film is quite simple yet it is a joy to watch. All the characters pique an interest whilst the action is as good as one would expect from Kurosawa; A duel near the end is absolutely stunning and worth watching the film for alone. It defies all expectations and shows how formidable Sanjuro actually is. I preferred this film to Yojimbo (but perhaps only because I did not know the plot so well) and it should definitely get more recognition when talking about the Kurosawa catalogue.
****Good
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