Strong performances, economy of storytelling, abundant action and even a keen sense of class consciousness...Hideo Gosha manages to get just about everything right in his first directorial effort. "Three Outlaw Samurai" stars genre stalwart Tetsuro Tamba as a wandering ronin who decides to aid a group of peasants in their struggle against a cruel magistrate; eventually he is joined by Isamu Nagato as another ronin sympathetic to the plight of the people, and Mikijiro Hira as a more ethically compromised warrior who turns his back on the magistrate at the last minute. I'm not a huge fan of Gosha but he really was on fire here, weaving a fine dramatic tale (without taking three talky, long-assed hours to get his point across) and punctuating it with a number of teeth-grindingly intense fight sequences. Especially good were Nagato's scenes with the spear: it's an unusual weapon for a chambara film, but the actor wields it masterfully under the direction of choreographer Kentaro Yuasa.
You may have encountered other examples of this genre and found them underwhelming, but don't dismiss the samurai film altogether before you've seen Hideo Gosha's debut. I guarantee that "Three Outlaw Samurai" will not disappoint.
You may have encountered other examples of this genre and found them underwhelming, but don't dismiss the samurai film altogether before you've seen Hideo Gosha's debut. I guarantee that "Three Outlaw Samurai" will not disappoint.