Seven Samurai

It's epic, it's Kurosawa? What's not to like?

Film makers are notorious for stealing and borrowing from each other, but everyone has stolen and borrowed from Kurosawa. Seven Samurai continues to shape action film narratives. Kurosawa brought together what we now consider to be classic film tropes. His work is still spellbinding and compelling...even now almost 60 years later...classic.

Just watch it, let you're children watch it when their ready. Everyone must see this perfect piece of cinema.

My 9, 10, and 12 year olds loved it and were able to follow along easily. Some violence but compared to today’s movies, much more suitable. A few awkward scenes that needed some explaining (a woman throwing herself into a burning building out of shame) but otherwise quite fine for pre-teens.

Seven samurai is easily one of the best movies ever made... it's fun, smart, enjoyable, and there were over 2 reboots. It is pretty awesome, though there are some boring parts. it is definitley the nicest 3 and a half hours you will ever watch on your television. Because of that, you just forget that there are subtitles

Seven samurai is easily one of the best movies ever made... it's fun, smart, enjoyable, and there were over 2 reboots. It is pretty awesome, though there are some boring parts. it is definitley the nicest 3 and a half hours you will ever watch on your television. Because of that, you just forget that there are subtitles

My 15-year-old has seen Die Hard, and the sequel in which a throat is slit, and a plane crash kills 300 people: Die Hard seems to be an American rite of passage. Both children had witnessed the grisly end of Boromir in The Fellowship of the Ring. So it's not like they hadn't seen violence (I regret watching Die Hard with them; it's the trivialization of violence that bothers me). The Seven Samurai is true to both the inevitability of violence and the consequences of it, making it suitable for more thoughtful younger children. My 10-year-old is fascinated with Japanese popular culture, which gave me an excuse to revisit my favorite film with him over the course of several evenings (3:25!). It takes an hour for the characters to be introduced, but once that happened, he was engrossed in the complexities, and the contradictions. No one's motivations are pure, and the ending is tragic several times over, so I don't think you can come away with a lesson. The leader Kambei is admirable, but he's also alone and bereft. You may have to explain what exactly Katsushiro is doing with Shino in her tent, but there's no sex on-screen.

One of the best films ever made. But not always great for younger kids.