Chô kôsoku! Sankin kôtai ritânzu

In short: It's clearly made with the glimpse in the eye, this isn't a serious movie all the way through - the white arrow (and alot of the jokes) denotes as much. But the costumes are good, the makeup also delivers and so does alot of the effects. Even the swordplay is even there at times. By all accounts and measure this is more a celebration of the samurai genre than anything else. And as such it's quite good. That does not mean it's excellent as a movie in of itself (6/10) where as a homage to previous movies that has been it's possibly a strong 8 or maybe even a 9.

The ending did alot for me, note the clear depicition of Toshiro Mifune walking away, with the straw in his mouth and a drink at his side (Tsuyoshi Ihara as Danzo Kumogakure), that is one scene that will stick with me and one of the most beautiful homages I've seen esthetically speaking. If you are a movie buff the two hour long movie is worth it for that alone. IF you are a moviebuff you will also recognise and appriciate some other nods and cineamtograpically appealing scenes.