Heaven and Earth (1990)
Warlords Kagetora and Takeda each wish to prevent the other from gaining hegemony in feudal Japan. The two samurai leaders pursue one another across the countryside, engaging in massive battles of cavalry and infantry. Younger and less brutal, Kagetora must find the strength to be as brutal as his opponent, but at what cost?
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Memorable, crazy movie
Good concept, poorly executed.
A Masterpiece!
This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.
Very impressive depiction of ancient Japan. No modern behaviour as most of the recent film of ancient
It is difficult to imagine a more visually stunning film than this one. The landscapes and skies are beyond beauty, and the massive battle scenes dwarf anything I've ever seen, even perhaps Bondarchuk's "War and Peace." This is one of the first films I've seen that conveys a believable sense of thousands (rather than hundreds or dozens) of soldiers in simultaneous combat, and the color-coded armies are both amazing to consider as fighting entities and astonishing to watch as masses of moving color and light. The final half hour is one of the most amazing feats of logistics and color ever put to film. Now if only there were a story worth following. Basically, there are two armies and the two armies fight or pursue each other. There is a minor attempt at personalizing the leaders of each army, but it all seems merely a formality, and a very unsuccessful one. There are no characters such as found in the great war movies, either in small films like "A Walk in the Sun" and "Nobi" ("Fires on the Plain") or in epics like "Ran" or "The Longest Day" or "Lawrence of Arabia." No, we're just told (I repeat told; I refer to the English-narrated version) that these people have enmity one for the other and that there is reason for battle. Then we watch the battles (or more often, the planning sessions). When battle comes, it is spectacular beyond expectation. But in the end, no one, not even the filmmakers it seems, cares who won or whether anyone did.
This film is like a poor man's Ran but what it lacks in Ran, it is made up with amazing battle sequences. Its basically battle upon battle and it would make for a brilliant DVD. If you ever wanted to see tactical battles about honour and betrayal then this is the movie for you!
The movie is a good film to pass the time with; fans of large battle scenes will enjoy this view of Japanese warfare. Unfortunately this movie suffers the same fate of most historical films, poor historical accuracy. The costumes are very good and the cinematography is very good. It seems that the historical license taken with the film was intentional as the purpose was to tell a story and not to make a lavish documentary. Well worth the rental fee and a keeper for those who like war movies.