Rurôni Kenshin: Kyôto Taika-hen
2014 / 138m - Japan
Action, Adventure
3.5*/5.0*
Rurouni Kenshin: Kyoto Inferno poster

Watches

July 01, 2021

3.5*/5.0*

It's been years since I watched the first entry in the live action trilogy, but now that they are continuing the series I figured it was time to get back on board. I'm certainly not the biggest Kenshin fan, but I've seen bits and pieces of the TV series and appreciated the OAVs, so I didn't come in blank.

Even though I couldn't remember much from the first film, the intro quickly refreshed my memory. The film is basically one big trek, with Kenshin setting out to find Shishio, the big adversary of the series. There are some stops along the way and some time spent with people helping him out on his journey, but it's really just getting from A to B with a bunch of fights in the middle.

Ohtomo feels well at ease with the material. The fight scenes are impressive, the sets are lush and expensive and Shishio is a pretty bad-ass villain. It's no real surprise that the film doesn't stray too much from conventions, that's what you get with insanely popular IP like Kenshin, but all in all this was a very capable live action adaptation. On to part three.