Now, I haven’t seen Akira Kurosawa’s THE HIDDEN FORTRESS – upon which this movie is based, so I can’t compare the two – what i can do however, is give my opinion on whether or not HIDDEN FORTRESS: THE LAST PRINCESS is any good taken on its own.

It’s not.

Well, alright, that was a bit harsh – it’s ok, but it’s no way near being great.  Firstly, it’s way too long.  At two hours, the film desperately clutches at the audience, longing for their interest, but alas it is mostly lost.  When considering a film that is two hours long, it’s essential for it to be engaging throughout – and in my opinion, an abundance of scenes involving people walking is not exactly the most exhilarating cinematic device.  Which is a shame, as large chunks of this movie are bogged down with sequences entireley focused upon tiresome walking.  Luckily, to break things up a little there’ll be a bit of running, but then we’re back to walking again, but then maybe there’s a bit of a sit down, then, oh I don’t know, let’s have some more walking – either way, they’re all activities that are impossibly enticing, I’m sure you’ll agree.

Still, length alone cannot be held responsible for THE LAST PRINCESS’ flaws.  Therefore we must unearth its other problems.  Coupled with its unfortunate running time is a lack of interesting events throughout – nothing really happens until the end.  The story surrounds a group people trudging across Japan – including a princess and her guardian – with a load of gold bullion hidden inside pieces of wood, their aim being to secure it and the princess in the politically stable region of Hayakawa.  Along the way they encounter many obstacles, wait sorry, they don’t encounter many obstacles, and thus, boredom soon sets in.  There’s the odd hurdle, and these bits are relatively exciting, but there just aren’t enough of them to keep the pace at a steady rate.

Usually these hurdles contain what the DVD cover refers to as ‘martial arts mayhem’ – which of course is a lie – and involve the swinging and clashing of swords, and not much else.  Although the film does have a rather spiffy effect that comes along with the sword slashes and makes them look rather powerful, so in a sense the few fight scenes that are present are actually quite well done.  It’s standard chanbara stuff – swish clang swoosh clang spark swish crash – and other complex choreography is not utilised, but is also not expected, although it could have helped.  If you get my drift.

So, the fact that there’s a distinct lack of martial arts ‘mayhem’, is there anything else to keep the viewer enticed?  Well, if it is mayhem you’re looking for, then you’ll be granted that at the end – because everything goes crazy.  Completely out of the blue, things start exploding, there’s poisonous gas and the CGI designers turn up for work – so at least you’re given the promised ‘mayhem’ at the climax, it’s just not particularly of the ‘martial arts’ variety.  It’s more like when you used to write stories at school, and when you got bored you’d conclude with ‘and then the world exploded’ or something of similar genius.

Aside from any instances of mayhem (I’ll stop saying ‘mayhem’ now) there’s not really much else to draw you in.  There’s a bit of melodrama to tide things over, but any interesting romantic angles that could have been explored are left by the wayside and remain undeveloped.  The same can be said of the characters – they’re all pretty much cardboard cut-outs (no disrespect to the actors) with little to no elaboration and resultantly they don’t make much of an impact.  Apart from perhaps Miyagawa Daisuke, who provides the comic relief and did have me laughing out loud on a few occasions.  But only a few.

All in all, it was a bit of a disappointment, and I fear it will be even more inadequate for fans of the original (which I would quite like to see now).  But in all fairness, if you just need something to pass the time, I suppose watching HIDDEN FORTRESS: THE LAST PRINCESS wouldn’t hurt too much.  I felt cheated by the DVD cover’s promise of ‘martial arts mayhem’ and this most likely affected my viewing of the film – so if you lower any expectations that may accompany a viewing of an action film, you’ll probably enjoy it a lot more than I did.

HIDDEN FORTRESS: THE LAST PRINCESS is available on Region 2 DVD from 4Digital on June 28th.

REVIEW: Hidden Fortress: The Last Princess (2008), 8.0 out of 10 based on 1 rating

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  • http://twitter.com/jazzisme jazzisme

    I know what you mean. DVD covers on movies like “Three Kingdoms: Resurrection of the Dragon” and “The Promise” also had headlines like “a martial arts masterpiece!” or “martial arts epic!” only for you to find out it's a drama with occasional clinking of swords. Terrible, man.

  • http://www.wirthconsulting.org Kraak Mo

    Seriously dude, you shouldn't even be entitled to write this review (and maybe others as well) if you haven't seen Kurosawa's THE HIDDEN FORTRESS.

    As a punishment for your crimes, you are banished to your room. While you're there, do your penance by watching one of the geatest Samurai movies of all time. You will gain valuable perspective in doing so.

  • Hifi3872

    How can you write reviews on marital arts films if you haven't even seen the Hidden Fortress? You sir should be relieved of your dutys.

  • Tupac88

    when i was at school, it was spelt “duties”