Owls' Castle

I was always interested by Owl's Castle, but never mustered up quite enough enthusiasm to watch it. I've liked but not loved much of Masahiro Shinoda's work, and I guess the fact this came late in his career and was labelled as an action movie always made it sound interesting. But then on the other hand, it seemed like most claimed it was decent at best, and with a runtime of nearly 2.5 hours, I guess it never really felt like it would be worth it.

I felt ready to eat my words for a while, at least during the first act, because Owl's Castle does begin in a promising way. I was on board and interested to see where it would go, but it ended up meandering and not really going anywhere. I wouldn't call much of it abysmal (besides some janky CGI which I don't think would've looked good in 1999 even); just a bit boring and by the numbers after a promising first few scenes.

I guess I come away a little disappointed, but also not too surprised. At least I've finally crossed it off the watchlist after years.

This is an extraordinary film. As you will see if you read the other comments here, it is not to everyone's taste. It is not an action movie. However, it really isn't quite the sober "realistic" movie that others have described either. THAT movie would be Ninja hicho fukuro no shiro, Castle of Owls (aka Samurai Spies), also based on Ryotaro Shiba's novel and a fine piece of work in its own right.

Castle of Owls does sport some over the top ninja action, but Owls' Castle actually has a lot more. There is magic, wire fu, impossible appearances, and quite a bit of heroic swordplay. It is just that these things don't jump out at you: they are part of the fabric of the film: the wonderfully fantastic way it looks and the exciting way the story is told.

This movie was made by Masahiro Shinoda, who is one of the greatest living film directors. It is an amazing summing up of his concerns, and I think it may be the crowning achievement of his career.

Shiba Rytoaro is a historic novelist. The reason why ninjas in this movie don't make use of James Bond gadgets to make their way through booby-trap castles and end the story in a big explosion is because this movie isn't the 2001 ninja-flop Aka Kage, and those things never happened. Don't give me the They-totally-messed-up-history-in-the-Gladiator-but-still-made-a-Russel-Cro we-movie-out-of-it look, Shiba Ryotaro's work is interesting because it is historically plausible. That said, the amount of action they did manage to put in the movie is realistically good. Realistic is the key word, because ninjas really did exist, so why don't you give them a break for once and try to look at them for what they were. This isn't about turtles living in the gutters, nor kids left home alone. I know it's hard to imagine, but these people were real, and that's why this movie deserves to be watched. The color palette of the movie is really beautiful, and the action is shot seriously--they actually had a mercenary choreograph the hand to hand combat scenes, he wasn't a fancy martial arts expert, but he did know how to kill people. Nakai Kiitsu is adequately stoic as the survivor of a clan, determined to assassinate Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and Mako's cunning eyes and sneer recreate the crafty strategist who unified Japan.

As a prologue, ruler Oda Nobunaga, worried by the threat of independent Iga ninjas, orders the killing of everyone in Iga province. Ten years later, our hero leaves a life in hiding accept the difficult job of killing the current ruler Toyotomi Hideyoshi for a client who prefers to remain anonymous (presumably the lord Tokugawa Ieyasu). He has to deal with two ninja trained love interests and must fight off an Iga ninja who is trying to advance by becoming a retainer to a powerful lord and well as a band of Koga ninja's.

Ninja picture fans will be unhappy because most of the fighting and killing is offscreen. The plot can be hard to follow in places. The history is bogus and there seems to be too much of it. Less philosophy would have been better too.

Wonderful costumes, especially the mixture of Japanese and Western dress worn by the entertainers and the rich of the time. Some nice sets, such as the entertainment district on the Kyoto riverbank.

Remake of the classic 1963 movie with almost same title, owls castle is a strong ninja story with great acting and choreography and excellent colors but with misplaced soundtrack.

A ruthless warlord, order to kill and wipeout all ninja clans, the way its done is very barbaric even children and wives are killed. But when his daughter dies of flew the warlord get weaker and dying. But that doesn't stop the remaining ninja Hanzo who seek revenge for his clan and mistress. He also meet Gohei a former ninja of the same Clan as Hanzo but despite their friendship he has left his beliefs and now serve as the warlords bodyguard.

Even though I don't like the soundtrack, it's a little too creepy sometimes and there is a shouting man soundtrack that takes you off the movie but despite that the movie is great, a perfect ninja movie a ninja lover should have in their collection. 10/10