This is the sequel to 'Yojimbo'. Toshirô Mifune returns as the wandering ronin Sanjûrô Tsubaki. He encounters nine naive samurai who wants to confront corruption. One of the samurai had confronted his uncle the lord with the accusations. The response was dissatisfying so he tells the superintendent. The superintendent tells the nephew to gather his men. The ronin immediately smells a trap, and the corrupt superintendent launches a raid on the group. Only the ronin's smarts saves the group. Now the uncle and his family are taken prisoner and the ronin endeavors to rescue them with the help of the nine naive samurai. Only the clueless nine are sometimes more problematic with their distrust of the often napping ronin.

This is a funnier movie than Yojimbo. Sanjuro does battle more with his brains than with his sword. The best swords are kept in their sheaths. However there is that great scene of drawing of the swords at the end. The guy imprisoned in the closet has a good funny scene. It's a very good sequel to Yojimbo with a funnier tone.

Sanuro, the sequel (or prequel, more likely a sequel though) to Akira Kurosawa's 1961 classic Yojimbo, brings us Toshiro Mifune to one of his most memorable characters, as he helps out (begrudgingly but, for the audience, funny way of help) with a group of would-be samurai trying to fight a corrupt man trying to gain power. With this film, Kurosawa delivers if not more than the same amount of violence (with one of his finest scenes of which towards the very end),and Mifune along with co-stars are believable and make for an entertaining ride. For those who are not familiar with Kurosawa and look to start, this and Yojimbo are the best starting points.

But to say that it is not one of Kurosawa's very best is not entirely a dis-service to him. One flaw for me was that the story was not very clear on the first viewing, or at least as clear as what I'm used to from him (then again, the samurai genre is one I've only started to dig into). But a second viewing brought it clearer, and was even more suspenseful and amusing. That it is not as satirical (or perhaps it is) than what I had heard is not a minus however. The best that can be said that it is highly watchable, and could grow on those looking for a samurai film with more based on character than on immediate, flowing blood-shed and carnage. The least that can be said is that it does not compromise artistry and thoughtfulness for mediocrity. Grade: A

While most Western audiences are reasonably familiar with THE SEVEN SAMURAI and ROSHOMON, this is, in my opinion, the best work of director Akira Kurosawa. But, saying that this film itself is best isn't easy because this is actually a followup to the highly successful film, YOJIMBO that Kurosawa completed the year before. Together, they are just terrific and feature Toshiro Mifune as the amazingly skilled and clever wandering swordsman who is out to right wrongs and make the world a better place (much like the character "Zatoichi" in the long series of samurai films that debuted the same year SANJURO was released).

In this case, there is a corrupt local official and a very naive group of young and energetic but STUPID young men are about to expose his corruption to his boss--expecting the boss to act and restore justice. But, as Mifune is very clever and these guys are dumb but nice, he advises them NOT to go to the boss, as he, too, is probably part of the problem! They cannot accept that the boss is corrupt, but through Mifune's brilliant maneuvers, they realize the truth and assist him to restore peace and justice.

This movie is amazing because although there are some wonderful action scenes, the level of comedy is also pretty high and I loved the tongue-in-cheek aspects of the film. Plus, the ending is one of the strangest yet coolest in film history. You just have to see it to believe it!