An epic retelling of Shakespeare's "King Lear", detailing the actions of a ruthless king (Tatsuya Nakadai) and how his good intentions of dividing his kingdom amongst his three songs goes horribly awry, and a power struggle of biblical proportions unleashes itself upon this leader. This is a story loaded with intriguing themes such as guilt, power, violence, revenge, and insanity, and all of these come clashing together to form one huge beast of a film. Although, granted, it is slow-paced and the expository beginning goes on a little long, when it gets rolling it remains arresting and intense throughout. Nakadai's turn is simply sensational, as he fully captures the crippling insanity that threatened to tear this king asunder. The battle scenes are also a work of art, where the legendary director Akira Kurosawa really flexes his artistic muscles and conjures up some truly chilling moments. It falls a little short of perfect due to its beginning, but it is still a magnificent movie well worth a view.

"Men prefer sorrow over joy, suffering over peace." Simply put: When an aging father gives various portions of his empire to his sons, let's just say things don't go exactly as planned. Kurosawa's brilliant epic is a powerful look at the insatiable lust for power that lurks in the hearts of men. How congeniality can turn to savagery at the slightest hint of gain. Also, and what I think is his most effective message of the film: We as a people lie, cheat, steal, and in some instances murder, yet expect the world to be fair to us in return. Like all Kurosawa films, he loves using nature to reflect what is happening in the story. As the family bonds being to fray, he often cuts to ominous clouds descending upon the castle. When the father realizes that he is no longer welcome in his kingdom, we get a close up of the sun and the sweat beading on his brow. These are just classic Kurosawa staples that are done beautifully here. While I was expecting this focus on nature, I was not however prepared for how graphic the film would be. There are extended gory battle sequences that frankly were very shocking to me. I have nothing against violence, I just haven't seen Kurosawa tackle it with such intensity. Although it is arresting, it is very fitting to the film as Kurosawa shows that these aren't men engaged in acts of valor, this is wanton violence brought on by greed. The music that plays over it isn't triumphant, it is of something lost. At the tender age of 75, you would think he wouldn't want to dabble in such brutality. But I guess 75 is as good as age as any to show some good old-fashion double suicides. While there is a lot to chew on, I think that if Kurosawa wants you to walk away with one message, it is to never give up power, especially to your rotten kids.