Back to trending
Seven Samurai

Seven Samurai

Action · Drama · 1954

A samurai answers a village's request for protection after he falls on hard times. The town needs protection from bandits, so the samurai gathers six others to help him teach the people how to defend themselves, and the villagers provide the soldiers with food.

Movie details

Seven Samurai

“Unmatched for suspense and spectacle!”

1954 Action · Drama 3h 27m

Critical arithmetic

One number, for now.

TMDB

8.5 / 10

Community rating

A samurai answers a village's request for protection after he falls on hard times. The town needs protection from bandits, so the samurai gathers six others to help him teach the people how to defend themselves, and the villagers provide the soldiers with food.

CriticWise case file

What this film says about your taste.

Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.

The archetype split

Who fights over Seven Samurai?

The split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.

Taste neighbourhood

Nearby on the taste map.

TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.

Sword of the Stranger

Sword of the Stranger

Action · 2007

Pursued by formidable Chinese assassins, young Kotaro and his dog run into No Name, a mysterious stranger who gets pulled into the chase. The unlikely companions form a bond over saving the dog from a poison attack, but chaos erupts when the assassins find Kotaro, and No Name must face his past before a horrible fate is met again.

Ran

Ran

Action · 1985

Shakespeare's King Lear is reimagined as a singular historical epic set in sixteenth-century Japan where an aging warlord divides his kingdom between his three sons.

Kagemusha

Kagemusha

Action · 1980

Akira Kurosawa's lauded feudal epic presents the tale of a petty thief who is recruited to impersonate Shingen, an aging warlord, in order to avoid attacks by competing clans. When Shingen dies, his generals reluctantly agree to have the impostor take over as the powerful ruler. He soon begins to appreciate life as Shingen, but his commitment to the role is tested when he must lead his troops into battle against the forces of a rival warlord.

Yojimbo

Yojimbo

Drama · 1961

A nameless ronin, or samurai with no master, enters a small village in feudal Japan where two rival businessmen are struggling for control of the local gambling trade. Taking the name Sanjuro Kuwabatake, the ronin convinces both silk merchant Tazaemon and sake merchant Tokuemon to hire him as a personal bodyguard, then artfully sets in motion a full-scale gang war between the two ambitious and unscrupulous men.

Black Belt

Black Belt

Action · 2007

Set in 1932, amid the rise of militarism after the establishment of the Manchukuo colony in Northeast China, the story centers on a trio of karateka. Studying under their aging master in a small dojo in the woods of central Kyushu, Choei, Taikan and Giryu face a company of kempeitai military police come to requisition their dojo for use as a military base.

Kingdom III: The Flame of Destiny

Kingdom III: The Flame of Destiny

Action · 2023

To defend their kingdom against a sudden invasion, a mighty general returns to the battlefield alongside a war orphan, now grown up, who dreams of glory.

Kingdom 2: Far and Away

Kingdom 2: Far and Away

Action · 2022

It follows a young man who dreams of becoming a general and Ying Zheng, whose goal is unification.

Zatoichi the Fugitive

Zatoichi the Fugitive

Adventure · 1963

After arriving in the town of Shimonita, Ichi finds that a price has been put on his head by a local yakuza boss. He's drawn into a trap, but after hearing of the slaying of a former love, Ichi furiously fights his way through the entire clan to face the killer, a hired ronin.

After the Rain

After the Rain

Drama · 2000

A group of travelers is stranded in a small country inn when the river floods during heavy rains. As the bad weather continues, tensions rise amongst the trapped travelers.

The Human Condition II: Road to Eternity

The Human Condition II: Road to Eternity

War · 1959

Kaji, sent to the Japanese army labeled Red, witnesses cruelties in the army and revolts against the abusive treatment against a fellow recruit. He also sees his friend Shinjô defecting to the Russian border, and he ends in the front to fight a lost battle against the Russian tanks division.

Where it lives

Watch in your region.

Cinema release signals and current streaming, rental, and purchase options for your region.

Streaming availability data supplied by JustWatch.

Names above the title

The people responsible.

Directed by

Akira Kurosawa

Written by

Shinobu Hashimoto · Hideo Oguni · Akira Kurosawa

Toshirō Mifune

Toshirō Mifune

Kikuchiyo

Takashi Shimura

Takashi Shimura

Kambei Shimada

Yoshio Inaba

Yoshio Inaba

Gorobei Katayama

Seiji Miyaguchi

Seiji Miyaguchi

Kyuzo

Minoru Chiaki

Minoru Chiaki

Heihachi Hayashida

Daisuke Katō

Daisuke Katō

Shichiroji

Isao Kimura

Isao Kimura

Katsushiro Okamoto

Court is in session

Put Seven Samurai on trial.

Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.

The defence The Prestige Tourist

“Ambition earns the room.”

The film reaches for consequence and scale, accepting the risk of seriousness instead of shrinking from it.

The prosecution The Popcorn Loyalist

“Importance has entered the chat.”

The production keeps announcing its significance, as though awards-season posture were proof of insight.