Tedfoldol everything you have heard about this movie is true.

Contentar Best movie of this year hands down!

BeSummers Funny, strange, confrontational and subversive, this is one of the most interesting experiences you'll have at the cinema this year.

Sameer Callahan It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

lokko53 A fascinating conclusion to a legendary character. Like the previous film, this one focuses on one particular event of the real life Musashi: the duel at Ganryu Island. In the previous film Musashi undergoes a transformation at the end where he realizes that there is no benefit in seeking to kill his opponents. He has matured and is no longer interested in instigating duel matches. It begins the section on Musashi interestingly with a match by Zen monks where a young arrogant monk challenges anyone in public.Throughout the film Musashi is constantly assessing each situation and trying to choose the humble path. In the first film we catch a glimpse through dialogue that Musashi farmed the land and was unhappy, but now that he has lived his dream as a samurai he returns to the farming life in order to protect a defenseless village. Before returning to farming Musashi lived in a city where he considered becoming an employed samurai but instead avoids it and starts to take up wood crafting Mahayana buddhas. He leaves when he was set to duel with Kojiro Sasaki who had been waiting for Musashi to gain in prominence in order to benefit from his victory in the duel.Musashi postpones the fight for a year and the final scene sequence presents the duel match as the climactic scene. The final scene was masterfully choreographed and a memorable samurai duel on the beach side as the sun rises in the morning. There is not much fighting per se, but the build up of suspense and style is excellent.This film also relies on the continued obsession of Otsu and Akemi with Musashi and his unreturned love. Musashi is truly concerned with virtue and wants to avoid misleading women when his true love remains the life of a samurai. Musashi is tortured by the last scene with Otsu in the second film where he threw himself over her and she rejected him. He felt that he had committed a rash, dishonorable action, while in truth she was simply conflicted. The third film opens up with a monologue by Kojiro Sasaki where his obsession with fame includes the killing of Musashi provides a chilling introduction into his character. Sasaki becomes the paradigm of unfettered fame at all costs. Otsu who followed him out of confusion, finally decides to leave him and seek out Musashi. Again, the women present themselves as strong characters still at the mercy of savage men.There is a sense of flawed portrayals of the female characters. While at times they are multi-dimensional characters, at other times it can come across as soap opera type acting and plot wise. In addition, the story of Musashi as the ideal samurai is difficult to accept given our cynical age, but Musashi is a Japanese folk hero that has been influential to Japanese virtue for over 400 years. Mifune does provide depth to the character, but is limited given the goodness that the character represents within a patriotic context.Nevertheless, the film represents excellent story telling and cinematography that stands the test of time. While the presentation of the ideal samurai will die in the coming years with the birth of the anti-hero by Kurosawa, this is a quintessential trilogy for the historical appreciation of the genre that in a few years would reinvent itself and influence western film making.While the Musashi Miyamoto trilogy is far from historical accuracy, they provide an entertaining introduction to this Japanese character that transcends time.

ebiros2 Although this is a samurai movie, story is far more than just sword fights. Musashi Miyamoto is perhaps the most famous swordsman in Japan. He starts from a humble beginning to become the best sword fighter in Japanese history. His arch rival Kojiro Sasaki is hounding him to a duel. Kojiro is also a master swordsman. Based on a novel by Eiji Yoshikawa, the final chapter of Musashi trilogy focuses on meeting between Musashi and his arch rival Kojiro Sasaki. The two battles in the most famous duel in Japanese history at Ganryu island.I've read Yoshikawa's novel before seeing this trilogy, and the battle sequences are less gritty than the way they are depicted in the novel. This is perhaps not to portray Musashi as a mean swordsman.There's dignity, and consideration for other human in Musashi. The caliber of people living a humble life around him seems to have dignity and innocence that's not seen these days. As a society, we are definitely going down hill compared to the times this movie was made.You get to see young Toshiro Mifune , Kaoru Yachigusa, and Mariko Okada in their prime delivering their A list performances.A very classy film that's worth watching.

SurreDeth I just don't get why in Japanese movies women are just really 2 different characters. They are either A) the incredibly weak woman that would rather die than be without her love when she doesn't even really have a reason to love this guy or B) the conniving backstabbing evil of the world people. Otsu is A, all the other women in this movie are B with Akemi being both A & B. Why the heck does Otsu keep stalking this guy from town to town? Honey, you've been surving pretty well on your own all your life and you're pretty hot for an Asian chick, I'm sure some guy would take pretty good care of you without making you stalk him all over Japan.The romance is weak, very weak, but this is movie from the 50s we're talking about. Nothing in the first two movies really setup why these women are in love with Musashi, they just are cause he's Musasi who happens to be the main character, we're suppose to love him too and not question what makes these women psycho.Musashi's motivations are weak too along with Kojiro's. Why travel around and murder people in town after town when good looking women are inviting you to stay and have a good time? What else is there in life, really??? Even despite being annoyed by the bad romance scenes with DRAG on and on, and everyone in feudal Japan being murdering serial killers this movie is still pretty darn entertaining, and the actions are darn good. Its not close up face shots during the action, instead its well layed out camera work that displays Mifume's physical prowess. The guy is quick. The final duel is a thing of beauty, and is copied by every horrible japanimation cartoon on the face of the planet these days. I hate japanimation.

dwpollar 1st watched 4/19/2003 - 7 out of 10(Dir-Hiroshi Inagaki): Sweeping romantic Hollywood-like epic from Japan that just happens to be about a Samurai. This is the last in a trilogy of films about Mr. Musashi(played by Toshiru Mifune) and his Samurai journeys. This one plays more like a romantic piece with two women fighting(bawling & brawling) over the affections of this strong-willed but soft-hearted hero and brave warrior. It's awesome to see a film made in Japan where the warrior hero cares about more than killing his opponent. The obvious issue of honor is foremost in this Samurai's mind and the killing just comes with the job. So many films that Americans were introduced to from Japan were either silly Godzilla-type movies or karate flicks(with almost no heart, but a lot of fighting). This is the kind of movie that Japan is probably very proud of, but is not often seen by American audiences. Bravo to Criterion for putting this into their DVD collection!! Now I'd just like to see the 1st two pictures in the trilogy to know more about what happened to the characters prior to this film. The climatic duel is also `one-of-a-kind' and has to be seen to be appreciated. I'll just leave it at that without giving too much away. Give this one a shot, you'll be glad you did!