The story of the Seven Samurai is not a cliché but it is treading an existing type of movie, namely a type of movie in which the story builds to an important event. This event will test several characters, showing how they deal with the said event and with one another. Normally, the formula to such a movie requires the first 80% of the movie to be devoted to showing the backstory of each character who will be present for the final event. This is necessary because you have multiple characters and you need to understand the backstory of each of them as well as the relationships between them in order to understand and fully appreciate their behaviour during the final event. Seven Samurai gives a little bit of an introduction for each character, but not much. Not long after seeing this movie, I have completely forgotten 3 out of the 7 samurai. And I would only be able to describe the characters of 2 out of the 7 people, and only briefly. It is not a spoiler to say that some of the samurai are not going to make it out alive, but it's hard to care when the characters are so undeveloped.As for the acting in this movie, it is a matter of taste. The Japanese sometimes have a really expressive line delivery, which is most evident in anime production. This delivery is aided by the fact that the Japanese language, even when spoken at a conversational speed, can easily be made to sound more pressurised than Western languages, with a lot of harsh "zh" and "sh" mushed together for effect. And in addition to that, older movies in general seem to suffer from overenthusiastic acting - a leftover from the theatrical era when it was actually necessary due to the distance between the performers and the viewers. Perhaps as a result of all 3 of these factors, there is a lot of overacting in this film. Specifically, Toshiro Mifune's character was given artistic license to physical improvisation by the director and Toshiro ran with it all the way to cartoon-land. I felt a physical need to look away during some of the scenes because it just got too weird for me to handle. That is not to say that the acting is bad. It's great but very stylised.I read that the reason why Toshiro was given the liberty to go nuts is because the director was worried that the movie would otherwise be too quiet and boring. He was sort of right, because when you remove Toshiro's character and his contribution to the themes concerning the position and identity of the peasant class, the film is just a story about a few people coming together and then fighting off an attack. It moves slowly, at almost 3 hours long, and not all of the scenes feel necessary.The good part is that, despite of it all the shortcomings, the film remains entertaining. The scenes are shot with competence. I am just somewhat surprised to see all the overwhelmingly positive reactions to this film.

Kurosawa's "Seven Samurai" is rightly considered one of the greatest films in the history of cinema. Apart from the fact that it is technically perfect, this is one of the most influential films of all time. From today's perspective, the film tells the story that has been seen many times, but this is because the Kurosawa's version has left such a strong impression that, in the following decades, many filmmakers were inspired by it. The most famous remake is the western "The Magnificent seven" (1960), which tells the same story, and even copies some scenes, only places them in Wild West and replaces the samurai with the gunslingers. Each frame of this film is a perfect black and white photography, the story is well developed, the characterization is convincing, and the performance is excellent (even to those like me who hate over-acting and exaggerated drama typical for Japanese). I could point to a couple of weaker points in the story and acting, but that would be only a subjective impression that arose from the personal taste and cultural gap between the East and the West. But objectively, this film hardly has any faults.10/10

It's hard to heap more superlatives on this film given all those that it's received from countless critics and viewers over the years. It's certainly worthy of them. The story is perfect. The characters and acting are memorable. Director Akira Kurosawa has a fantastic sense of pace, and even at three and a half hours, every scene seems important. We're transported to 16th century Japan, a time when bandits terrorize the countryside and a village of farmers, but the film's themes are timeless. As epic as the movie is, with a samurai team of six assembled one by one by its leader (Takashi Shimura), it would not have been the same without the seventh, a samurai-wannabe played by Toshiro Mifune. He's brash, exuberant, funny, brave, foolish, and heartfelt. He's in many brilliant scenes, but my favorite is when he describes what tricks the farmers may be up to, and we gradually understand that he himself was a farmer's son, with a tragic past. His performance is right up there with Brando in terms of intensity and honesty.Kurosawa is smart in so many ways here, one of which is to orient the viewer to the village and its surroundings by showing the leader of the group plan its defense. In addition to Mifune's character, he also lightens the mood with the forbidden love between the young samurai apprentice (Isao Kimura) and a young woman masquerading as a boy (Keiko Tsushima). Their scene in the woodland flowers is gorgeous. I love how the samurai are as tough as nails, but know they don't need to show it, and instead exude a sense of calm, playfulness, and understanding. With the exception of an extremely skillful and solemn swordsman (Seiji Miyaguchi), they smile in many scenes, and all of them accept the difficulty and danger of their fate. Despite their skill, they do not seek out violence. They are calm in moments of peace, intelligent in planning for battle, and brave and unflinching under attack. While the film and these character types have been emulated many times over the years, the difference between these samurai and western action heroes is still stark, and refreshing. In this little village and the situation it faces, we see a microcosm of the world. We see all of the very natural reactions to pressure, and despite the mythic quality of a small outnumbered band of heroic samurai, the film has an authenticity to it. We see all of the very natural reactions to pressure. There are themes you might expect: honor, duty, discipline, and that sort of thing, but at its core, the message is the need to stand up to evil, and the great debt that we owe to those who have done so.

I love the authenticity and realism of this movie. It might be a tad long compared to today's standard but there is no wasted scene. I love the characterizations and the stories of each of the seven samurai.