This is one of the most powerful movies I’ve seen in many years. I was completely floored by the battle scenes and the accuracy of the sword fighting and training that was used throughout the film. The acting was superb and the art direction, lead by Christopher Burian-Mohr (Nominated for The Time Machine, Amistad), was incredible in its accuracy to Japanese culture. The soundtrack was wonderfully scored by Hans Zimmer (Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, Pearl Harbor, Gladiator), and in fact, I can find little in this film to belittle. I won’t call it the best picture of the year, but it is by far the most robustly produced film of the year.

What stands out are the efforts of the Art Director and the Cinematographer. In fact, if the cinematography felt familiar, it was because it was expertly developed by John Toll (Vanilla Sky, A Thin Red Line, Braveheart, Legends of the Fall). Director Edward Zwick (Traffic, Shakespeare in Love, Legends of the Fall) has pulled together an incredible cinematic effort. The screenplay is a little weak, stealing influences from Dances with Wolves, but it was well balanced by the force of the acting and the believability of the action scenes.

Ironically, therein lies the film’s one weakness: It relied too heavily on gruesome, overly bloody, battle scenes. Sure, we did need to have reality of the war, to feel the pain of the battle, but there is a line, and it was crossed in this film. The splattering and misting of blood as warriors died forced me to look away, and thus, I lost parts of the film in aversion. The point of the battle was well made; it made me sick.

I kept expecting this film to get too heavy with Zen, but it swiftly maneuvered though it, hinting toward it, but never hitting into a dead wall of misunderstood eastern thought. The director knew the movie’s strength, and stuck to it, never getting too involved in thoughts or scenes that just didn’t belong in the final cut.

If you want to have your soul ripped out of your chest, make sure you catch this film on the screen. If you miss it in the theater, don’t bother watching it on TV. It won’t have the same impact.