Farmers living in a village in Japan are constantly harassed by bandits who steal their crops Scared and desperate to protect what they have left, they hire a group of seven samurais to help them fend off the bandits, while also teaching them to defend for themselves.

I have not seen any other Akira Kurosawa films, so I can not compare to his previous work, but this film is truly iconic. This is a well inspired movie for many Hollywood movies that soon followed on from this, even to this day, with the likes of The Magnificent Seven, a loose western remake. An inspirational movie that will live on forever.

This is a long movie running at over 3 hours, it does give the viewer breaks every so often where the screen goes black to give them a moment to breathe and process what you have just seen. It takes a little while to get going, to give time to introduce the villagers, and also introduce each of the seven samurai. So while slow in the beginning, it never gets boring. It is not an easy watch for just anybody, you truly have to be a lover of film to appreciate this work.

The actors in this movie are so well casted and performed. I'm unfamiliar with all of them, which maybe helps why I didn't feel like I was watching a movie at times. It felt like I was watching these actors lives play out in front of me. A big standout for me was Toshiro Mifune as Kikuchiyo. He bought a bit of comedy to this movie for me, and I loved how his character changed for the better.

The final battle was incredible work. The rain added to the realism and the choreography was remarkable. A true masterpiece that is a must see for all movie lovers. 9/10.