The Samurai Trilogy is a very good work, very well worth watching. No, they aren't as great as Kurosawa's samurai masterpieces, The Seven Samurai, Yojimbo, or Sanjuro, but they are no much less worthy. My only major complaint is that they were filmed in color, which is a lot less good looking and elegant than the black and white of the Kurosawa films. In some scenes, especially those at night, it is very difficult to determine which character is which.
The Samurai Trilogy excels in several aspects. First and foremost, Toshiro Mifune may be the single best actor who ever lived. Sure, he was typecast, but he was great in his roles. There is a huge difference in his acting jobs in these films and Rashomon or The Seven Samurai or Yojimbo and Sanjuro. His character here is very complex. The second reason to watch is for the great secondary characters. They are all quite complex. There will be characters you'll love and long for, and other characters whom you will hope will be killed by Toshiro. These secondary characters are extraordinarily complex at times. Third, watch it for the novelistic unfoldings of the story. Well, it should be novelistic, since all three films were based on a single novel. Don't worry about the three movies repeating in any way. Also, it is a good idea to watch all three in a row (I watched the first two tonight, and plan to watch the third one tomorrow night; hey, it's late!). The story is constantly developing, and you don't want to forget anything. I give each segment of the samurai trilogy a solid 8/10 (unless the third installment is particularly great or awful; i will most likely post a comment for that film by itself).
