Cubussoli Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!

Dotsthavesp I wanted to but couldn't!

Moustroll Good movie but grossly overrated

Chirphymium It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

ablklab I happened to watch Shogun again on Encore this week. I was shocked when I realized that the original release date was 33 years ago! I was a young 24 years old when I saw it the first time. It made quite an impression on me. I had read the book shortly before and really enjoyed the film I have a suggestion. Shogun should be re-released to a new generation. Here's what should be done to enhance this classic without diminishing or compromising this television classic.1. Do a standard digital remastering similar to other re-releases.2. If possible eliminate the TV "fade-outs to a commercial" that really date this mini-series.3. Re-do the score. The score is the weakest point of the movie. It sounds very 70s and the score sounds like a Rockford Files episode where Jim Rockford visits the Orient. This great classic deserves better.4. Here's the most important one: Add sub-titles. This would bring a whole new dimension to the re-release. Baby-boomers like myself who enjoyed the original three decades ago will be anxious to hear the new dialogue that was not previous translated. I'm not really sure if translating the parts that are already translated by one of the characters (Mariko, Father Alvito for example) would work. Maybe just subtitle other parts.Thirty three years is a long time. Shogun begs for a re-release.

michael_the_nermal I enjoyed "Shogun" a great deal more than a bloated, overlong historically-set miniseries that followed a few years later, "North and South." In spite being twelve some-odd hours in length, "Shogun" does not feel like it goes on forever like "North and South," has much better actors, and moves at a decent pace. It has the formula of historic romances, including a soap opera love between the Western man and an Eastern woman, whom he is forbidden to love. "Dances With Wolves" and, of late, "Avatar" follow a similar formula, but I enjoyed the love story between Lady Toda and John Blackthorne in "Shogun" much more than in those movies. "East meets West" romances, including those between Western men and Eastern women, and even including those set in Japan some time in the past, are pretty standard in literature and film; but, somehow, I enjoyed how this formula played out in "Shogun" more than others. This may have to do with the long running time of the miniseries, which allowed for a credible romance to develop; a three-hour film would have to, by comparison, develop this plot rather quickly."The Last Samurai" repeats the theme of a Westerner of no great title in his own homeland earning the respect of the Japanese nobility, earning the title of samurai, and aiding the nobles for their own ends. Somehow, I like how this formula played out in "Shogun" even more. Richard Chamberlain (TV's Dr. Kildare) is insanely fun to watch. His American accent does not hinder his role; in fact, it makes it very enjoyable. His character of John Blackthorne does undergo a change throughout the story, but still maintains a healthy skepticism of Japanese culture and of the trustworthiness of the Portuguese Jesuit priests who have insinuated themselves amongst the Japanese noble houses. Other wonderful actors include John Rhys-Davies (perhaps best known as Gimli from Peter Jackson's "Lord of the Rings" movies) is superb and fun to watch as Portuguese pilot "Rodrigo-san." Toshiro Mifune, perhaps the Japanese actor best known outside of Japan, credibly and subtly conveys the menace and wiles of the enigmatic Lord Toranaga (a fictionalized version of the real-life Ieyasu Tokugawa). The actors who played Lady Mariko Toda and Father Alvito, though relatively unknown, deserve commendation for their excellent acting.If you have any money saved up, try to rent separate discs of "Shogun" when you can until you have seen the whole series. It makes the experience more manageable (each disc is about two-and-a-half hours in length) than to see the whole damned thing at once. You will not regret it!

lohrasb I watched the series first in 1991, when satellite TV had just come to UK. All these years I wanted to watch the series, again!Only this time, I had no idea how much it was going to effect me! Back then, I was eighteen and it seemed just another swash-buckling adventure. Almost a decade later, I could actually see people and their lives! Back to time when honour and shame actually meant life and death!I even got the audio book! It helped me realise how Jerry London's adaptation remained true 2 the text! The book certainly complements the series and fills in the missing gaps!James Clavell was captured by the Japanese in Singapore and spent most of the Second World War in captivity. It is quite astonishing that instead of hating his captors he came to admire their culture and simply demonstrate the mutual prejudices of both sides!With the exception of Toshirô Mifune, it is quite disheartening to find hardly anything on the Japanese cast of the series! After much search I came across a small passage on Yoko Shimada , who starred alongside Richard Chamberlain. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yoko_ShimadaMiko Taka, Lord Toranaga's (Toshirô Mifune) consort starred alongside Marlon Brando in the movie Sayonara 1957! And yet there's nothing on her, either.It's been said that Yoko Shimada was the only Japanese, speaking English in the series. But, that is not true! Further down the line, a Jesuit Japanese priest appears, who also speaks English!

seanowain Great mini-series, but I was under the impression that there were TWO versions of the series, the second about 4 hours longer and following the book in far greater detail than the one available now on DVD. For example, I remember Miko-san as fighting a samurai before she was to commit seppuku in the 4th DVD, which occurred before Lord Yabu betrayed them in Osaka Castle. Also, this one had English sub-titles when the Japanese were speaking. Please tell me I am right before I start trying to find which reality I saw that series in, I really want a DVD of the fuller version. As for the series, either version is to be treasured, I know I treasure the one I have.