Set in the late 1800s, after the fall of Shogunate, onetime assassin Jubee Kamata lives in seclusion on a small farm. But when the new government begins harassing the local populace, Jubee is forced to break the promise he made to his dead wife and take up the sword once more.
I came in to Unforgiven with a negative mindset, because the word 'remake' rarely means anything good these days. I was proven wrong. In the same way Kurosawa's Yojimbo got an American remake with A Fistful of Dollars (1964), director Sang-il Lee (Villain, Rage) decided to adapt Clint Eastwood's Unforgiven (1992) with a Japanese cast. I rarely see the point with remakes, but I can recognize good cinema when I see it. Lee's version is made with the utmost care and attention for authenticity, and thankfully far from being a cheap cash-in riding on a big name like Clint Eastwood.
Ken Watanabe plays a compelling character, who as a seasoned old veteran, must again pick up his weapons and do battle against an abusing regime. In the fact that the film is set in the Meiji period you kind of get the best of both worlds; a western and a samurai film. The action is dealt out in small amounts but instead of being the one thing you wait for like in other action movies, here it's more like extra delicious seasoning to an already fantastic stew. Accompanying the film's journey are some beautiful landscapes, and I'm totally fine with having the setting changed from your ordinary western scenery to the both snowy and lush hills of cold Hokkaido.
Unforgiven is great on its on terms, and even though Eastwood's film is the blueprint, Sang-il Lee had the ability to approach it from his own personal viewpoint and adjust it after a different culture.
Genre: Action/Crime/Drama. 2h 15min.
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