Japanese Star Wars knock off that steals back elements that Star Wars stole from Japanese movies (mostly The Hidden Fortress) in the first place - and adds a medieval flavour
I watched this last night after I saw a Japanese Star Wars parody footage / knock off scene in a new American Japanese action thriller on Netflix called 'Kate' (I'd rate 'Kate' a 6 only). I did not find the Japanese movie that SW scene comes from (does that movie really exist?) but I landed on the movie in OP and then read up on its background
the action and overall look were definitely good but it was a downer for me that I could see who betrayed who (times two) ten minutes into the movie. not that hard either since this is the fate of most snipers who get betrayed in a movie
the girl who played Ani (Miku Patricia Martineau) had the best performance imo
Woody Harrelson has become pretty lazy in his performances these days. he is definitely a good actor but for movies with what I call 'a straight script' he kind of just phones it in without going the extra mile. he has the chops to elevate this kind of material but he just doesn't go for it. I'm not saying he's Bruce Willis bad in this but it's still a bland performance. What stood out about Harrelson in this movie? he does that thing where he pulls his lower jaw up front 15 times in the movie and that's about it. Same for 'The Man From Toronto' (slightly more interesting performance). I liked him well enough in 'The Highwaymen' where he got a real script to work with
also I think mixing American and Japanese styles in action movies is a bit overdone. I don't mind yakuza (yakuzi? definitely not jacuzzi lol) coming in swords drawn but the crossover with an American sniper plot is meh
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