An intelligent and elegant Japanese adventure film which has an epic feel and is full of watchable action and intrigue, this is a follow-up to SAMURAI PIRATES. The film boasts both strong characterisations and an excellent setting, with grand, impressive sets and interesting location work in the desert. Along with an appropriate score and some strong acting on the part of Japanese legend Toshiro Mifune, these factors help to combine to make THE ADVENTURES OF TAKLA MAKAN a highly enjoyable movie.
Once again the format of the film is of an epic journey with many dangerous and bizarre situations along the way. Our two friends - the monk and the warrior - find themselves caught up in some hard-edged battle scenes with black-clad warriors and befriend a wizard who is able to levitate at will and pops up to offer support and advice. Their bizarrest adversary is a swamp-dwelling witch, who can change form at will and whose head is cut off only to re-attach itself again! After these fairly innocuous incidents, the film becomes much more serious in the final third when the monk and the warrior are captured and imprisoned in the castle. The king demands a sacrifice and the warrior, nicknamed Osumi (or "I see" in English due to his favourite expression) has three days to deliver the ashes of Buddha to the correct people and return, or his monk friend will be burnt alive in the town square. Cue a surprising tear-jerking ending which reveals much about Osumi's character and friendship, plus a fair amount of suspense and a crowd-pleasing finale.
Toshiro Mifune shines as the mysterious loner hero, giving his role an extra depth that an otherwise less experienced actor would have failed to bring to the part. The rest of the cast are also very good, especially the secondary character of the monk and the guy playing the king. Some of the characters and special effects - especially those involving the witch - seem cheesy in today's light and are played for laughs but these don't spoil the mood of the film too much. And, as I said, in the final third it suddenly all becomes very sombre and epic in feel, not to mention gripping. This is a fine old-fashioned adventure yarn set against intriguing foreign backdrops in which characterisation and human drama come before action and effects, much to the film's strength.
Once again the format of the film is of an epic journey with many dangerous and bizarre situations along the way. Our two friends - the monk and the warrior - find themselves caught up in some hard-edged battle scenes with black-clad warriors and befriend a wizard who is able to levitate at will and pops up to offer support and advice. Their bizarrest adversary is a swamp-dwelling witch, who can change form at will and whose head is cut off only to re-attach itself again! After these fairly innocuous incidents, the film becomes much more serious in the final third when the monk and the warrior are captured and imprisoned in the castle. The king demands a sacrifice and the warrior, nicknamed Osumi (or "I see" in English due to his favourite expression) has three days to deliver the ashes of Buddha to the correct people and return, or his monk friend will be burnt alive in the town square. Cue a surprising tear-jerking ending which reveals much about Osumi's character and friendship, plus a fair amount of suspense and a crowd-pleasing finale.
Toshiro Mifune shines as the mysterious loner hero, giving his role an extra depth that an otherwise less experienced actor would have failed to bring to the part. The rest of the cast are also very good, especially the secondary character of the monk and the guy playing the king. Some of the characters and special effects - especially those involving the witch - seem cheesy in today's light and are played for laughs but these don't spoil the mood of the film too much. And, as I said, in the final third it suddenly all becomes very sombre and epic in feel, not to mention gripping. This is a fine old-fashioned adventure yarn set against intriguing foreign backdrops in which characterisation and human drama come before action and effects, much to the film's strength.