Hirokin: The Last Samurai

When I picked up the "Hirokin" DVD it was solely because Julian Sands was starring in it, and prior to that information then I knew absolutely nothing about the movie, so I had no expectations or beforehand impressions.

"Hirokin" is taking place on another planet where Griffin (played by Julian Sands) is a ruthless tyrant, keeping the natives oppressed and downtrodden. People live in fear and is waiting for a hero to come along. Enter Hirokin (played by Wes Bentley) who have to come to terms with his own heritage before he can save mankind from oppression and strife.

The story told in the movie was nothing new or innovative, it was all stuff that has been used and seen before. "Hirokin" seemed like a mutated mixture of "Dune", "The Last Samurai" and "Star Wars". But oddly enough it worked out well enough. And the movie did suffer from being rather predictable, as you knew exactly how the movie would end right from the very beginning.

The effects in the movie were adequate, though don't expect top of the line, million dollar CGI effects. However, the costumes and the scenery was really great. Especially the outfits of the soldiers serving Griffin. Their armor and outfits looked really nice, and had somewhat of a "Star Wars" feel to it. And the landscape and scenery was really spectacular.

As for the acting, well people did good enough jobs with their given roles, though it is nothing award-winning. And they had managed to get together a great enough ensemble of actors and actresses to play the various characters.

One thing that I didn't fully understand, was the sub-title to the movie; "The Last Samurai". So there are even samurais in outer space? Sure there were subtle references to the samurai and Japanese culture to be seen here and there (especially in the clothes), but it just seemed so misplaced in a Sci-Fi movie.

"Hirokin" is a good enough Sci-Fi movie and does manage to keep a certain level of entertainment and action all throughout the 105 minutes it is running. However, the movie failed to leave a lasting impression for me, and I doubt that I will ever be making a return trip to watch it again, despite being a huge fan of Julian Sands.

The movie seems to well suited for a younger audience, probably late teenagers.

waist. as a huge ball of actors, technical tools, story and possibilities. only virtue - chance to remind you many great S.F. movies. but it is not enough. a film lost in pink chaos. interesting as parts but not as final product. good scene and boring script. few philosophic lines, a crosswords action, ambiguity as heart, few fields of nonsenses. and that is all. and the feeling is the too large care to fail of team who transforms a not uninspired idea in a silly sketch. few crumbs of courage of director, a not gray acting from actors, the precision of events are good points for gives a decent movie. maybe, with another occasion.

...this is the first of three films I've watched recently that look great, but don't have much else going for it. The story involves our man Hirokin, who is a human that lives on a planet that looks like Earth, who gets involved in a rebellion against the oppressive human regime. In the desert.

Our aliens look remarkably like humans (one even has a Scottish accent) and are led by Agnus McFadyen. Hirokin is the chosen one and blah blah you've heard this thousands of times.

Bad stuff: Far too many over-emotional scenes of people standing around while the music swells, which is all fine if something was going in between these scenes, but there's a lack of action here. So if, like me, you were waiting for Hirokin to man up and starts slashing hordes of bad guys, you're in for disappointment. Hirokin is in fact a bit of a knob.

I couldn't care about anyone in this film. It looked really good though. More action, less arsing around talking philosophy.

I must say that Sci-Fi B movies is not all in the toe crunching class. But this movie is really terrible; I know that the budget was low but come-on! If you can't make a decent CGI in the year 2011 don't even attempt to do it. In the 80'ties there were a lot of movies in the "atomic wasteland Mad Max" category, this one will fit nicely in the row of movies that failed to get past the firing ramp. I watched the movie in 1080p and it didn't help much, so if you love Sci-Fi B movies you can give it a try on day, if nothing else come to your mind.

The scenery was great, and the fighting scenes were "sort of" OK, but everything else didn't deliver the silver screen magic at all. If you decide to watch this one don't expect anything, then you wont be disappointed.

This movie reminds me of John Carter; a very poor version of it.

LET'S TALK ABOUT THE BAD THINGS: First, I'd like to point out that the title is misleading - there are no Samurais in the film including the character "Hirokin". Most of the swordsmanship in the film were from Kendo, not Kenjutsu. Second, all CGI were obvious and some were even incomplete. There was even a shot of a floating ship where the top was not aligned with the screen's edge. I know the film is low-budget so I can't fault them for that but alignment should be simple enough and free of charge. Third, there were some "comedic" scenes that were out of place and should've just been excluded from the film - they were probably from "The Lord of the Rings". Fourth, the outline of the story is common and the plot is too narrow to be worthy of being a great film; they could have done so much better in ALL areas. Finally, some dialogs were amateurish and the set extras/actors were not properly directed; in some scenes, they were simply all over the place.

NOW, THE GOOD THINGS: The locations were amazing except the viceroy's base. The main stars' acting were excellent. I could spot that some of their dialogs were improvised from whatever was originally on the script. The framing and scene composition were all good and professional and the lighting was superb.

CONCLUSION: It's a good watch when there's nothing better lying around.