Kenshin: La fin de la légende

After sleeping three days and dreaming with his master Seijuro Hiko (Masaharu Fukuyama), Kenshin Himura (Takeru Satô) wake up and finds that he was saved by Hiko. Kenshin asks to learn the Hiten Mitsurugi technique, "Amakakeru Ryu no Hirameki", to defeat Shishio, and Hiko agrees and trains him. Meanwhile Makoto Shishio (Tatsuya Fujiwara) meets the Prime-Minister Hirobumi Ito (Yukiyoshi Ozawa) that is forced to betray Kenshin declaring that he is a wanted outlaw; otherwise Shishio will destroy Tokyo and the government. What will Kenshin do?

"Rurôni Kenshin: Densetsu no saigo-hen", a.k.a. "Rurouni Kenshin: The Legend Ends" is one of the best trilogies of cinema industry ever. The duel between Kenshin and Shishio is too long but in the end, the good wins the evil. The ending is very sweet and fortunately Kaoru Kamiya has survived. Fortunately the producers have not made another sequel despite the number of fans. It is better off missing Kenshin than seeing a commercial weak sequence only for the box office. My vote is nine.

Title (Brazil): "Samurai X 3: O Fim de Uma Lenda" ("Samurai X 3: The End of a Legend")

The action scenes just freaking brilliant can't get enough of it.

Keishi Otomo returns with the conclusion to the Kyoto arc, the writing and directing, and honestly everything with the production design holds up in Rurouni Kenshin: The Legend Ends. The reason being that it was shot back to back with Kyoto Inferno which was the first part of this duology. I decided to watch this film a day after Kyoto Inferno because of how the story takes place immediately after as Kenshin recovers following losing Kaoru at sea, and that was the right choice to do. I don't have anything bad to say about the writing, it keeps the same level as Kyoto Inferno and the characterization as well. But one thing that I felt they fixed even more so than the previous movie was how they shot the dialogue and more drama sequences, the first film (Origins) had the tendency to not be engaging in the drama sequences but it feels like the director and actors got better with the experience, as with the previous film I found it engaging and The Legend Ends keeps up with engaging character interactions and dialogue. The scenes with Kenshin Himura and Hiko Seijuro were great, containing some of the best acting of the film. Tatsuya Fujiwara's performance as Makoto Shishio is another highlight in terms of acting. I'm glad Ryunosuke Kamiki who plays Seta Sojiro got more time to shine, especially in the fight sequences, the rematch was astonishing and epic like a lot of the fights are. There's one more character I want to write about and it's Saiko whom is important to the Kyoto duology but doesn't really have a big character arc, but I have loved him since his first appearance. The way he fight and the skills he posess, he is just so entertaining to watch and the actor does a phenomenal job.

Though the first act isn't as action packed like Kyoto Inferno first act was, I found it extremely well written and truly a strong point of the long length, it did everything it needed to do to build up for the climax and ending fight with Kenshin and Shishio. It tells us more about our main character and hero, and the darker characterization is truly perfect here. The second act is where The Legends Ends truly begin to shine, story and individual character arcs that Kyoto Inferno started come full circle, and it's where Aoshi Shinomori makes his anticipating return. Something that have been in the ten years making and something he told us in dialogue multiple of times, his need to kill Kenshin. I would actually say the fight sequence between them was way better than the one Aoshi had with Okina "Elder", it was fast and engaging but also epic in terms of quality and how the music played into it. The second act is stronger but the act that truly brings this samurai film to a 10 is the third and final act. Everything about it is breathtaking and incredible, a satisfying and action packed climax.

The fighting choreography and action sequences are like the previous film, truly superb and also beautifully shot. The sets that are used in this film are great, especially where Kenshin trains with his old master. Many sets and locations in these two films are beautiful, this second installment of the duology having the most stunning ones. The musical score during action sequences and in other scenes, are like Kyoto Inferno, quite brilliant. The music is powerful and memorable, edited well into the scenes so it flows really well.

Now this is far from the best film I have ever seen, but these two films together are some of the most entertaining films I've seen. Not a single minute went by that I found myself bored, Keishi Otomo created a film worth coming back to. If not just for the brilliant and epic action sequences, Kyato Inferno and The Legend Ends will become classics in the samurai/action genre. Without a doubt.

A reflective first act may prove to be too slow for some viewers, but these moments contain the most imperative lessons for Kenshin in the entire trilogy. This film contains-easily one of the greatest third acts I've ever seen, and any martial arts/action film buff worth their salt needs to see this film. Once again I applaud Satoh Takeru, Tatsuya Fujiwara, Kenji Tanigaki and the rest for the unbelievable devotion to realizing these dynamic characters as authentically as possible. Aside from some character development gripes, the assuredness of direction, cinematography, pacing, acting-chops, choreography and perhaps most importantly, appreciation for the source material, it's lessons and essence, this is easily one of the best, ( if not the best) in contemporary Japanese action cinema. This trilogy was seriously on point. Purists open your eyes: this is what all adaptations should strive to achieve, creating an ending that is far more impactful, and ultimately improves upon its source. Next to "The Raid", unparalleled fight choreography.

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