Akira Kurosawa's Yojimbo (1961) has been an influential in many ways. It has not only spawned a few remakes (including Sergio Leone's A Fistful of Dollars), but it also created a new sub-genre of chanbara (which attempts to make swordplay more realistic) and it made the simple storyline more popular (a badass stranger comes into a town to beat bandits).
The film's narrative is gripping and surprisingly dense. It is nearly exhaustive (in a good way) with a lot of properly developed characters and fast plot development. Yojimbo is written perfectly within the genre's restrictions. It is flawless as it is.
Kurosawa's form is a delight yet again. Especially the opening sequence of the film is constructed in a stunning way: you'll need to see this film even if it is only to see the scene in which the protagonist enters the town. Kurosawa makes us familiar with the set so effortlessly.
Yojimbo yet again proves how versatile Kurosawa was as a director - and how awesome (and badass) Toshiro Mifune is.
Score: 10 out of 10
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