Gonza the Spearman

Despite the title, it's important to note that this definitely isn't an action movie. It's set in samurai times, and Gonza is indeed a spearman, but there's very little by way of action scenes. I was fairly sure it was going to mostly be a drama going in, but I still had my hopes up there'd be a little more fighting. Oh well.

Maybe this is a consequence of watching too many martial arts and samurai movies. I find myself craving that excitement when not all movies with this historical setting are about action. And Gonza the Spearman isn't terrible as a mostly action less drama either. It's very well-shot, the plot is interesting for at least the first half, and the acting is solid throughout.

But even judging it purely as a drama, I think the pacing made me lose interest a little around the halfway mark, and I was a bit zoned out. Things picked up for the ending - that kind of got things back on track. Still, overall, not one of Masahiro Shinoda's better films, but it's got a decent number of qualities that his better films have - just not to the same extent.