Review of Ran (1985) by Ryan H — 27 Mar 2008

As much as I like Akira Kurosawa, the pacing in Ran, as well as the general story, lacks the ability to grab my attention and be entertained throughout. I find the film very dull and at times, gimmicky. Gimmicky in the sense that the blood spurts and stains are clearly fake; so unrealistic to the extent whereby it seems as though we're watching a B-movie. This also applies to some of the hammy overacting at times. The characters in the film do not provoke me to feel empathetic nor sympathetic towards both who they are and the situation they find themselves in.

Ran is far from Kurosawa's best works which is a shame considering it is a visually enticing film which uses vivid colour, set location and cinematography to a high potential whereby they are the only strong assets of an otherwise boring snoozefest of a film.