Space samurai on a distant planet says you? yes please says I. The villain played by the dastardly devilish looking Julian Sands?? oh my! this sounds great! Wes Bentley says you? hmm OK not bad, not bad, but I've gone slightly soft now.Plus points...the film looks pretty sweet, its basic with obvious sets and errr...a handful of bad guys, villagers and good guys used over and over but the location work looks nice. Set on the distant desert planet of Aradius you can see straight away certain similarities to many other sci-fi/fantasy films, need I list them? So everything looks very familiar yet admittedly rather nice with use of sunsets, twilight, dusk, early morning etc...the colours and hues are gorgeous at times.Apart from that the film is your standard by the numbers chosen one styled plot line. A lone warrior saves a small tribe of people (aliens that look exactly like humans) from a tyrant human played by Sands naturally. All the bad guys look like Imperial guards from 'ROTJ' and Sands looks suspiciously like Sting in 'Dune'.Its all very clichéd and run of the mill stuff, yet the whole point is lost on me, I have no real clue what's in it for the evil Julian Sands to do what he does. Angus Macfadyen is the Yoda-like Master, the all powerful leader, warrior and rebel who must train the eager Hirokin, cue lots of training montages set against facial close ups and with many shadows and silhouettes.There seems to be a lot more style over substance really, very arty and nice to look at but behind that its pretty crappy stuff really. Doesn't really make much sense, why would a distant planet in the future (or so I assume) utilize the ancient Japanese samurai way of life, war and culture? where do they get their fuel, water and food from? etc...I could go on but I won't.Shame the people/aliens of this poor village seem to totally outnumber the bad guys (but why would they even stay in this village?, the area offers nothing...leeeeave it!!). Oh and this alien race are called Arids. You see what they have done there? Arids...Arabs? or maybe because the planet they live on is arid?...ah beats the sh*t outta me.Its a nice slice of B-movie sci-fi hokum that will please some fans of the genre. Its fun harmless stuff and Bentley does look the part I admit. May I suggest a better choice, if you like sci-fi hokum then I recommend 'Hunter Prey' which is a much better ride.4/10

This low budget sci-fi film is cheesy but entertaining for anyone that enjoys sci-fi B movies. It's basically a SYFY channel quality film, even though I'm pretty sure it's never actually aired on the SYFY channel. The writer clearly mixed Dune and Star Wars, however this is not close to as good as either! My biggest problem is that there isn't a single impressive fight sequence. The film acts like an action sci-fi, but it never delivers a single impressive action sequence... It's one saving grace is the film's costume design, which steals from the Star Wars video game Knights of the Old Republic (Sith specifically), however there is plenty of bland costume design as well. If you want to see a bad-ass sci-fi action film, go rent (or buy) Casshern, an Asian film that not well known but totally kick-ASS!!!

When I picked up the "Hirokin" DVD it was solely because Julian Sands was starring in it, and prior to that information then I knew absolutely nothing about the movie, so I had no expectations or beforehand impressions."Hirokin" is taking place on another planet where Griffin (played by Julian Sands) is a ruthless tyrant, keeping the natives oppressed and downtrodden. People live in fear and is waiting for a hero to come along. Enter Hirokin (played by Wes Bentley) who have to come to terms with his own heritage before he can save mankind from oppression and strife.The story told in the movie was nothing new or innovative, it was all stuff that has been used and seen before. "Hirokin" seemed like a mutated mixture of "Dune", "The Last Samurai" and "Star Wars". But oddly enough it worked out well enough. And the movie did suffer from being rather predictable, as you knew exactly how the movie would end right from the very beginning.The effects in the movie were adequate, though don't expect top of the line, million dollar CGI effects. However, the costumes and the scenery was really great. Especially the outfits of the soldiers serving Griffin. Their armor and outfits looked really nice, and had somewhat of a "Star Wars" feel to it. And the landscape and scenery was really spectacular.As for the acting, well people did good enough jobs with their given roles, though it is nothing award-winning. And they had managed to get together a great enough ensemble of actors and actresses to play the various characters.One thing that I didn't fully understand, was the sub-title to the movie; "The Last Samurai". So there are even samurais in outer space? Sure there were subtle references to the samurai and Japanese culture to be seen here and there (especially in the clothes), but it just seemed so misplaced in a Sci-Fi movie."Hirokin" is a good enough Sci-Fi movie and does manage to keep a certain level of entertainment and action all throughout the 105 minutes it is running. However, the movie failed to leave a lasting impression for me, and I doubt that I will ever be making a return trip to watch it again, despite being a huge fan of Julian Sands.The movie seems to well suited for a younger audience, probably late teenagers.

WOW, lucky I watched the film before I read that last dudes review (must have it in for filmmaker?)Anyway, saw the film in high def last week and the landscape shots were breathtaking, I liked the storyline and that machine where you are chained and need to fight to save your loved one is absolutely awesome. I know the film is a Indy low budget but didn't have that feel to it, kinda hovered on the cusp. Would love to see it re done by James Cameron or Spielberg(lol). Back to the review, the bumbling idiots were great in there roles and made me laugh, the connection between the hero and heroine was great (great job by the heroine), the tension between the hero and villain was less than exciting and the rest of the cast was believable and did a good job. The action (fight)scenes looked cool especially with the funky looking bad dudes. Oh did I mention that Jessica Szohr is also in it and looks really............you know.