In the Nobody's-Perfect department, this is the first Akira Kurosawa movie that I felt very underwhelmed and was quite bored for most of the movie. According to the trivia page on IMDB, this movie was made as a way for Kurosawa to repay Toho for letting him make movies like Rashomon and The Seven Samaurai. There, I guess I feel better. Still, it was disheartening and made me doubt my judgement. I wasn't a big fan of Throne of Blood (aka. Spiderweb Castle) but was fascinated by its story and the parallel to MacBeth. Every other Kurosawa are just about excellent.
Instead of dwelling on my irritation with the two clowning peasants in the movie, I'll just mention the parts I like. There's the typical Kurosawa bleak outlook on humanity sprinkled throughout -- particularly right around the border checkpoint. The fire festival scenes were pretty amazing, with Toshiro Mifune dancing! And finally, I was thrilled by the horseback combat scenes that is as good any battle scene from The Seven Samurai.
