Rurouni Kenshin: The Legend Ends (Film Review)

At the end of 'Kyoto Inferno', we saw a fallen Kenshin washed ashore, alone. Hopeless that he may not possibly see Miss Kaoru once again, until he is seen by Hiko Seijuro lying down. There's simply a lot to fill in on 'The Legend Ends'. There's a lot to finish through considering that it's predecessor established bigger plans for the final installment. 'Rurouni Kenshin: The Legend Ends' is basically what 'The Dark Knight Rises' is to the 'Kenshin' trilogy -- painfully slow at start, but once it hit its spot, it does not stop.

It is also about rising up to the challenge for the greater good. Kenshin asked Seijuro to train him the highest form of fighting of the high heavens, in so he can defeat the vicious Shishio Makoto, who has bigger chaos in stored than just destroying Tokyo.

On what it may seem like a full-on spectacle resulted in a very inconsistent finale. 'The Legend Ends' really has its moment, notably the climax, but all around through it seems disappointing. And that statement came from someone who watches all 90+ episodes of the anime just so I can be free to cheer along with the fans in the party. I expected too much for this movie, that I didn't expect to see a lot of flaw here and there.

First, the character development. I get it, this is already a pretty tight film because there's a LOT of subplots that needed to be resolved that some of the key characters, especially and notably the "Juppongatana gang members" and Kaoru. The villains are plainly just there to fight, and faded in a second.

Miss Kaoru on the other hand, felt like being here to weep and cry even more. The love story was reduced, leaving the audience to not care at all to what she's feeling when something 'big' might happen to Kenshin and the others.

The movie is 130 minutes long, and right about 40-50 minutes of it were reserved for the bloodshed. There's some pretty BIG, and when I meant big I say f***ing crazy awesome!, swordplay throughout. This is basically the only thing that I actually enjoyed in this movie except for the terrific performance by everyone.

A lot of blood is expected for this R-13 rating, and violence is treated with good care. The final clash between good and evil on it's climax will definitely give everyone a big smile on their faces. Not only there's some great humor injected with Sanosuke's role, the choreography is astounding! And needless to say, the actors did their own stunts which is impressive.

Though I really liked 'Kyoto Inferno' more of how it felt like a more deeply engaging than this, 'Rurouni Kenshin: The Legend Ends' still provide the right amount of punch to its action set-pieces.

The geek rates it 6/10.