Kill! (1968)

This movie is the proof that the world is becoming a sick and dumb place

True to its essence, the characters remain on the same line and manage to entertain the viewer, each highlighting their own distinctive qualities or touches.

Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

Blistering performances.

Kihachi Okamoto's Kill! is an anti-samurai film same as his Sword of Doom. In the latter, the protagonist is a sociopathic nut instead of a virtuous hero. In the former, the main guy is a comical figure who nevertheless talks normally instead of using the typical scruffy samurai talk. Kill! pokes fun of that one, and of many other tropes and clichés found in samurai films (some of those jokes unfortunately end up being lost in translation).Kill! is very entertaining, but the plot is too convoluted and confusing. Take the first 15 minutes for example - new characters enter and leave the screen as they please, names are thrown and exchanged rapidly, sides are taken and scenes fly by before you can get what's even happening. Fortunately, the storyline becomes clearer later on. I still dislike how the movie's editing is constantly so erratic, especially in its opening. Some scenes, like the party segment when Tabata meets Oyo work best when edited in such a dynamic manner, but the majority of the film's pacing is all over the place.The shot compositions are wonderful like in many Japanese films at that time, and although many shots last too short to be admired, they are combined with the restless edits in an unique way, showing us a big, open world. Also, the music is really cool, one of the best samurai movie soundtracks ever.As a bit of trivia, this is based on the same novel (The Peaceful Days) as Kurosawa's Sanjuro. However, Kill! seems to have more connections to Yojimbo, particularly the rundown village in the intro scene, which looks almost identical to the town in Yojimbo because of huge gusts of wind blowing dust all over the place.Despite some of its narrative weaknesses, Kill! is a very fun and exciting movie, with great music, good sword fights and lots of exaggerated acting as a spoof of samurai film tropes.

Both the strength and the major weakness of Kiru! is that it refuses to take itself too serious. Although there are some notable moments where Okamoto goes for the dramatic angle (the squad leader whose wife works in the brothel facing off with Tatsuya Nakadai's character for one) and does it well, he keeps sabotaging his own movie. In that aspect, Kiru is definitely not a formal jidai-geki but more of a light-hearted samurai action film.Kihachi Okamoto might not be well known outside chambara circles, but he's one of the best in the genre and definitely at the top of his game directing action. Fresh from the devastating Sword of Doom (his magnum opus and one of Japanese cinema's finest moments), he brings a fresh, wild approach to his action. Less stylized and formal but more energetic. In terms of samurai cinema, the movie opens in a rundown little village and with the dust and winds blowing the whole setup is eerily reminiscent of Yojimbo setting. The plot is a crossover of sorts between Kurosawa's Sanjuro movies and the themes Eiichi Kudo explored in his Samurai Revolution trilogy (samurais ambushing and assassinating a daimyo for the honour of their clan etc). It may seem a bit convoluted and off-putting to the uninitiated, but that's typical in films of this kind.With regards to the comedy angle, while Kiru is a light-hearted fare, it's definitely not laugh-out-loud funny. A lot is lost in the translation I guess, but sometimes the comedic timing of Tatsuya Nakadai as the cunning, sly yakuza (a welcome change from the tortured soul characters he played in the 60's) and Etsushi Takahashi as the overzealous farmer with samurai ambitions shine through.

This is an excellent Japanese action picture just chock full for fighting, killing and samurai stuff. That's fine with me, as I like that sort of film a lot. However, I don't particularly remember the film being THAT funny and it is certainly not a comedy. I am writing this because based on some of the other reviews, I person might assume that to be the case. Action--YES. Comedy--NOPE.However, I could see the parallel between this movie and the Zatoichi series. Our hero, Ichi, is always looking to help the little guy in trouble and he, too, did bad early in life and is always striving to undo this through good works (like the lead in KILL).

This is possibly the funniest comedy samurai movie, with a more subtle humor than the hilarious Zatoichi series. Stars the brilliant Tatsuya Nakadai.