C'mon man. I give it a solid 8. The Japanese film makers are really just masters at story telling. This is a great story with numerous side-stories of a remote Japanese regional "Lord" ordering a Marathon to his retainers, as he is supicious of the newly arrived Americans and wants to see if his retainers are in shape. There has been peace in Japan at this point well over 200 years. The Big Shogun gets a mistake message sent to him by one of his spies that the guy is preparing to war with Shogun, so Shogun sends out some assassins with American-gifted pistols...it is impeccably acted and photographed, a nuanced story that is historic, amusing and just hints at tragedy in a very clever way. Not everything has to be special effects and blazing action. A good story is the root and DNA of film, more thn anything else.
Review of Samurai Marathon
