samwamburi I've read a few reviews on here about how wishy-washy the action was and the twisting of the plot. As a super fan of Samurai X, I really see no other way of having recast this story without overkill of CGI and long meandering plots. I doff my cap to the producers of this as trying to remake the history up Battousai, leaing up to the final battle with Shshio, was no mean feat. The character replications are exemplary, the sword fights are memorable and even some of the remakes of Kenshin's signature moves are brought to life in the most realistic ways possible. Condensing a series that went 96 episodes + 4 OVAs each going on average 23 min (though up to the Shishio battle would be about eps 50 something) into a trilogy of 2hr 15 min each is not easy, especially while trying to build some level of intimacy and depth with the characters is not easy.Cons: I' have loved them to develop some characters further, or give the backstory at least (Sojiro, Aoshi and some of the Juppongata) to create more drama and depth, as well as inclide some more epic fight scenes.Overall: 8/10

kosmasp I reckon you'll have at least seen the two movies before this one. So I don't consider it spoiling talking about things that happened before this movies events. Like the fact, that our main character swore to not kill anymore. Something difficult to hold up, especially if you consider how many people are out to get him.After that cliffhanger from the previous movie, we do get an introduction to that character we saw at the end. And it's a pivotal character to say the least. Since I'm not aware of the Manga or Anime made before this, I can't compare anything. I do know that the dynamic of the movie works nicely. Also the action scenes are really well choreographed (like the previous one). It might be a bit too long with its running time, but it's still very entertaining

moviexclusive I'll say this first – die-hard fans of the manga series would probably not like the movie very much.Well, book fans rarely go gaga over movie adaptations, deeming it inferior to the original due to the lack of detail most of the time. That said, it is lacking detail, and there is changing the storyline until it feels like a different story but with the same characters and a vague resemblance to the original plot.I might be exaggerating, but for a self-confessed Rurouni Kenshin fan, it sure felt that way for a good part of two hours. Picking up where Rurouni Kenshin: Kyoto Inferno left off, Rurouni Kenshin: The Legend Ends launches itself straight into the plot. With Shishio Makoto (Tatsuya Fujiwara) advancing to Tokyo and threatening to take over the country, the weakened Himura Kenshin (Satou Takeru) must dig deep and find out how to defeat him, and fast. And in a stroke of good luck, who else to find him washed up from the sea but his teacher, Hiko Seijurou (Masaharu Fukuyama).Despite the deviation from the original manga, the plot does retain some part that require the audience to have read the manga to fully enjoy. For example, the self-sacrifice required behind the ultimate technique of the "Flying Heaven Honorable Sword Style", and the backstory behind Sagara Sanosuke and "Ten Swords" member, Anji. This lack of information does not take away anything from the plot, but it does seem lacking in some sort without these intricacies.Like the first and second Rurouni Kenshin movie, what the Legend Ends uses to sell itself to non-readers of the manga is probably the sword fighting sequences in the movie. To get to that, however, the audience must sit through 1.5 hours of dialogue with almost next to nil actual fighting scenes. This could be to make up for the lack of character development in Kyoto Inferno, where it was sacrificed for the action sequences. From the dialogue and non-fighting parts, we learn about Kenshin's past, before he was picked up by his teacher, the callousness of the Meiji government, and in general, a lot more evil laughing from Shishio. That is fine for people who want to learn more about the characters and their motivations. But for action fans, I suppose it would be boring. On the other hand, what was not explained was the backstory behind Sojiro's childhood, and how he became with cold, smiling right hand man of Shishio. That would have taken up more time, but it was the most memorable backstory in the manga, in my opinion.And finally, after the huge buildup to the main fight – Shishio vs. Kenshin – the fight disappoints. Perhaps it is due to the need to rush through things, due to the time taken up by story and character development. Perhaps we were desensitized by the other fighting scenes. Or perhaps it is the four versus one (blasphemy!) to wear Shishio down. But Kenshin's supposed victory over Shishio did not seem conclusive.As a whole, the film accessible to all audiences, fans or non-fans of the manga alike. No prior reading is required, although watching Kyoto Inferno before this movie would be recommended. Also, with the Shishio arc in the manga spanning across multiple volumes, the Rurouni Kenshin movies do a decent job in condensing the story to make it suitable for theatres, so kudos for that.

tinulthin Rurouni Kenshin: The Legend Ends (aka Rurouni Kenshin: Densetsu no Saigo-hen) corrects two mistakes committed in the first half of this two-part conclusion to the Kenshin story: Exposition has been dropped to zilch, and instead of a series of tension-free one-vs-all rumbles, every fight is a one-on-one nail-biter.That said, between all the engaging fights, the film falls into the Dragonball abyss of story stagnation. Makoto Shishio (Tatsuya Fujiwara) has assembled an army—and a massive ironclad battleship bursting with cannons—to overthrow the Meiji government. The only thing standing in his way is a bunch of screenwriters who've realized, "Oops, he's won—better make him arbitrarily change his mind or the movie's over." Enter the Pause Zone, where the formerly brutal assassin decides to hold off his attack until the titular Kenshin (Takeru Sato) is caught and executed by the authorities in Tokyo. Never mind that Kenshin was last sighted off the coast of Kyoto and might well be dead—it's time for everyone to sit around and wait. And wait. And wait.Kaoru Kamiya's (Emi Takei) entire contribution to the film is to be asleep and then wake up. Sanosuke Sagara (Munetaka Aoki) is relegated to watching Kaoru be asleep and then wake up. His only contribution comes in the last act, at which point he essentially rehashes his big semifinal fight from the first Kenshin movie in 2012. It's fun, but it's not much of a payoff when you've seen it before.Kenshin spends much of the film on the Japanese version of Dagobah with his master, Hiko Seijuro (an effective Masaharu Fukuyama), in an effort to up his game after being defeated by Shishio and Sojiro Seta (Ryunosuke Kamiki) in the last film. The extended, artfully choreographed stick-vs-sword pummeling opens up some well-earned character development—as well as a few wounds—and could have formed a strong core to the story if the filmmakers had been able to restrict themselves to a single central character.Sadly, none of the other characters gets to develop so much as a hangnail. Shishio's myrmidons, the Ten Swords (Juppon Gatana), are each given a single line of motivational justification narrated by a fist-fighting monk, and few get to express anything beyond fashion sense. Sojiro suffers most: the breadth and implication of Kenshin's anti-killing philosophy have been so thinly established—and Sojiro's background so hazily sketched—that their final conflict, while a thrillingly tight sword-and-grapple affair, has no emotional stake, and Sojiro's subsequent breakdown lacks context or justification. And woe be to those who question the purpose of any of the action: Aside from Kenshin's meeting with his master, the entire trip from Tokyo to Kyoto is revealed to have been entirely unnecessary, as the finale takes place back in Tokyo anyway, and the entire cast could have just waited at home. Aoshi Shinomori (Yusuke Iseya) could have been written out of the script entirely. His fight with Kenshin is poignant, but only serves as a speed bump on the way to a conclusion that has been sitting static since the opening act.Most unforgivably for a film that has tried to be gritty and political, the setup for the finale is simply preposterous. In the previous film, Shishio had such superior intelligence capabilities that he was not only able to assassinate a government official in transit, but also make it look like the work of another group. In this film, he is somehow completely oblivious to the weeks-long construction of half a dozen cannons on an exposed hilltop within sight of his ship—which inexplicably sits stationary in open sight the entire time. Blackmailed into action, the Meiji government announces a public execution for the captured Kenshin (the capture is delightful, but the sudden appearance of fifty cops is about as believable as Charlie Chaplin). The execution is to be held not in a secure location, but on the beach alongside Shishio's ship. Considering that it's revealed that the government is (spoilers!) planning to betray Shishio—a plan that will surely result in the shelling of the beach—why invite the public to an impending war zone? And if the government's entire purpose in executing Kenshin is to save face, why then allow the public to see that it's clearly Shishio's men, and not the government, who are in control? We're not finished yet: When all hell breaks loose, a longboat full of cops immediately rows right up to the broadside of the battle cruiser—over open water, in broad daylight—without dodging so much as a shot. Much hay is made of the government's pusillanimity in firing on the battleship while the protagonists are still aboard, but the deck doesn't so much as wobble for ten minutes at a time when the heroes have a score to settle. Does the artillery crew just go to lunch? And why doesn't the ship just sail out of range? For that matter, why does Shishio's sword make fire? And where does Sadojima Hoji (Ryosuke Miura) go after taking that punch to the face? Is anyone keeping track? Suspension of disbelief is one thing; you can't just toss the established rules of a movie world out the window and expect the audience to blithely go along for the ride.And then, at the height of all this logic-free lunacy, something incredible happens, and even Aoshi's otherwise pointless existence is excused. The final ten minutes of The Legend Ends represent the most innovative and inclusive four-on-one fight to ever to grace the silver screen. An expanding cast of psychos, heroes and hellraisers piles on not one after another in clichéd action fashion, but in fully choreographed five-directional fury, with every fighter bringing his own style and character to the game. The sequence is simultaneously brutal, gripping and hilarious—exhilarating and mind-blowing. It's almost enough to make us forget all the sins committed on the way.Almost. Just don't ponder how Kenshin got the other half of his scar.