User reviews

I haven't watched any of parts of this movie but I watched this one and it seems to be classic action movie. Storyline was good too . Great fighting scenes with sword and some good plot twists too. Definitely go for it.

I enjoy martial arts though more the artistry and finesse than gore and bloodshed. But what I really liked here was the powerful yet gentle love story and the two leads' heartbreaking depictions of that love. But when I researched and found out more about the author, I was done.

And I can quiet confidently say it's deeper than all of the previous movies, which is understandable since this is a part of Kenshin's origin story. Not too draggy or boring, the romantic build up fits the runtime it is given though it's still pretty unclear how it could happen. Fight choreography is still as good as the last one yet sadly the most anticipated fight (perhaps) in this story arc, which is shown briefly in the anime and therefore supposed to happen, is not happening at all. Still we need to remind ourselves that this film is less about the fight and more about a monster who throughout the story undergoing a process of change along with the world he lives in

7.5/10.

I really didn't expect the beginning to be better than the final.

Everything is perfect the story and cinematography and the fights OMG. This is the only movie in the series that shows kenshin real sword and killing skills.

I really really enjoyed it and now also the series is complete and you can watch it in the storyline order as below: The Beginning Origin Kyoto inferno The legend ends The final.

Nothing else to say. The movie was perfect in my eyes. Great acting,, great plot and great fight scenes.. Don't understand the bad reviews, they must be fans of political science.

Himura Kenshin's character arc in the rousing Rurouni Kenshin series comes full circle by tracing his beginnings as the assassin Battosai the Killer, during the years of the Shogun war. Pic paints the samurai Kenshin as a conflicted killer, although there is a lot of bloodletting in the first half of the film. The second half, though, is an elegiac and moving account of the doomed love affair between Kenshin and Tomoe - the woman who will shape his character's motivation throughout the preceding four chapters. Mounted with flair and panache, this is a much more sombre installment compared to the other movies in the series- but there is still enough lightning fast swordplay which has become a hallmark of the series. Star Takeru Satoh also has filled in the character he has played for almost a decade. A must watch for fans of the series. Also returning as leader of the Shogun police force is Saito, although he has yet to pick up chain smoking.

As expected, "The Beginning" dives more into Tomoe (Kasumi) and Kenshin's (Takeru) tragic love story, hence, it's a bit more poignant, slow-paced, and is significantly less in action compared to its predecessors. However, the series' nature and samurai grandeur trademark that fans relish remain, and you get to see more of Kenshin's ruthless Battosai phase!

10/10 for the 10 years.

It's a decent adaptation of the masterpiece OVA (Original Video Anime) Kenshin Memories.

• The action sequences are great

• The movie mis-casted Tomoe; she was such a sophisticated character in the OVA, but the movie version is just a pretty girl lacking acting depth.

• The important classy side characters, such as Katsura and the final boss, were poorly portrayed. I liked the portrait of Shinsegumi though.

• Some parts of the movie were just silly compared to the OVA, like Tomoe's fiancé stopping Kenshin twice, who was walking away, and the chatty final fight.

• Just can't compare its soundtrack to the OVA's masterpieces. The OVA used sound to convey the character's emotions while the movie chose to use dialogues without much background sound; it's just a different direction.

• Since the movie heavily leveraged the OVA, the director should have done a better job in editing. While he omitted scenes such as Kenshin's scar continued bleeding and the season changing, he unnecessarily stretched out some sequences like a fight with Soji, the final boss giving a long explanation, and the final fight.

If your expectation is good samurai style action movies, the Kenshin Beginning is a quite good movie. However, if your expectation is masterpieces like the OVA Kenshin Memories, this movie is just a decent attempt.

The trust and betrayal ova are some of best work I've ever seen. So naturally I was comparing this live action to the ova and it comes very, very close. Actually the live action is outstanding. The pace and story buildup to music and sets are of high quality. This movie looks and feels like professional production. It's entertaining and also realistic. No over the top fake flaying through air nonsense. Perfect blend between action and drama. Definitely worth the watch.

Tried to watch this hoping to see something interesting, but it just turned out to be so dull. How can anyone like the lead character, his acting is so wooden.

This is great Japanese movie making, violent and action packed, full of gentle women, thoughtful but deadly men, something different but enjoyable.

Kenshin live actions have been the best live actions ever and this last installment does not disappoint. Although they left out my favourite part of the OVA (the beginning, Hiko saving Shinta) they perfectly brought Kenshin to life. We will miss the man that makes it rain blood.

The final movie and prequel to the Rurouni Kenshin live-action series is as heart-breaking as expected.

The opening scene must be one of the strongest openings seen in Rurouni Kenshin live action and the first act is really strong, setting the tone for the time period and this Kenshin. Things start to drag a bit in the second act though and there is an overall lack of explanation to why this revolution is happening in the first place so you should be familiar with the manga or anime, to ensure you get the most out of the movie.

The performances, as per usual, were great, the cinematography and choreography are as beautiful and seamless as established from the very first movie.

Still, the OVA of this part of the story is my favorite and I was often comparing the movie to it, wishing they had gone for a bit more heart and brutality than what was delivered.

But, overall I really enjoyed it, Takeru Satoh is the best Kenshin we could ever ask for and I have only gratitude for the respect they have given to the animated series and manga while still making their mark in the Rurouni Kenshin universe.

My opinion is coming from someone who hasn't read the Manga. The positives are the first third of the movies fight scenes. The fast-paced brutality caught me off guard and I was quite invested for the first 30 minutes of the movie. Some of the sets looked great and the cinematography is pleasing to the eye for a production on a modest budget.

However, the second half of the movie derails everything into a boring montage love story. A predictable moment happens after the worst implied romance scene and even the action can't save this film. What really hurts the romance is the acting in this movie. None of the acting is convincing, the dialogue is bad and everyone is moping around. The two leads literally have the same facial expression the whole movie. About two percent of the time the actors smile. Staring blankly into each others eyes and saying the dialogue slowly does is the most unconvincing way to convey deep sorrow. The acting really hurts this movie.

The story is boring and there are no characters to really latch onto. Also there is no humor to be found in the movie, so you have to sit through two hours of mundane-melodrama. Not to mention the action in the last act pales in comparison to anything that came before it.

Therefor I would suggest if you're a casual viewer to avoid this movie. It is not a good movie by any means. The high reviews are from fans of the manga and previous movies and will most likely downvote anything that doesn't agree with them.

Keishi Otomo returns to the Rurouni Kenshin franchise with its fifth and final installment, Rurouni Kenshin: The Beginning. It's a prequel to the four other films which takes place in the year of 1864, when the samurai Kenshin Himura was known as the Battosai, a deadly assassin whose fierce swordsmanship had killed over one hundred men in one year. But all that changed when he saved a young woman named Tomoe Yukishiro. From the previous film we know what happened, how she dies and how her brother Yukishiro Enishi witnessed it and swore to avenge her. This is the origin story fans of Rurouni Kenshin have longed for, it shows the horrors Himura Kenshin struck as the Battosai and how he went over to the good side. It's brilliantly told, Keishi Otomo nailed it with this prequel, there's some great writing but also incredible direction from him.

There aren't a lot of returning characters except for Himura Kenshin, Saito Hajime, Yukishiro Tomoe and Yukishiro Enishi. But the characters which were introduced, many being historical characters. The likes of Katsura Kogoro, Okita Soji and Takasugi Shinsaku stood out the most. Interesting and likeable, a pair of well written characters. The Yaminobu are the main antagonist of Rurouni Kenshin: The Beginning, they're a group of assassins who were once called the "Oniwabanshu of the West" and has a plan to kill Kenshin. I have praised Takeru Satoh's performance since my first review, I absolutely love him in this role and it's a role he have played since 2012, and has been doing all his own stunts since he first took on the role. Satoh reportedly spends weeks perfecting the sword fights with choreographers, going through the moves multiple times both in and out of costume in a studio before heading out on set. That's talent and love for the craft. Seeing him as Kenshin during his time as the Battosai was so entertaining as there were nothing holding him back from killing and that leads to some much more refreshing fight and action sequences after watching four movies of him being a pacifist.

The locations and sets are like the previous film (The Final), remarkable and beautiful. But the most astonishing part of the film is of course its cinematography, the way they shoot things and line up the shots. Breathtaking. There's also some things that I never brought up in my past reviews, scenes shot like a one take, dramatic and fight sequences. The musical score is incredible, Naoki Sato created music that fits perfectly in with the dramatic scenes which there are plenty of.

Rurouni Kenshin: The Beginning doesn't try to do anything big, it retells the events before the first movie in an excellent way and the director did a great job with making each second count as it never got boring. Though, I did expect more action sequences but I think it was for the better to keep it as a more dramatic story as more fight sequences would only make us despite Kenshin as the story is trying to tell why he changed and Keishi Otomo succeeded. This isn't the best film in the franchise but still worth watching. I hope this isn't the end but if so, The Final and The Beginning tied up things nicely. Giving us a satisfying beginning and conclusion.

Never seen the anime, but this series is gorgeous with great cinematography and story line. Well worth the watch, I'm a fan now might watch the anime too.

I saw this movie randomly on Netflix without any preexisting knowledge of the lore. The dialogue is quite terse so that didn't help to understand what was going on. Maybe it's me not being used to japanese names too, but i kept on mixing up the characters and who was on who's side! 😁 The sword fights were pretty good and there's quite a nice atmosphere going on, although i could imagine some people finding this boring. The movie is quite long and the ending can seem dragged on.

All in all, it was an interesting watch, different from main stream Hollywood, though I expected more out of it. Nevertheless the movie intrigued me so that I might watch one of the sequels (that were produced earlier so it seems)

I enjoyed this part a lot, which is full of drama, action and excellent cinematography, the Roroni Kenshin movie series, which is an action-drama genre based on a famous anime series of the same name. Not to burn the events in the previous parts

My rating for the series is 10/10 without exaggeration, a great series, an enjoyable story, enthusiastic action, cinematography and directing, and there is no mistake.

Rest of the parts Rurouni Kenshin 2012 Rurouni Kenshin: Kyoto Inferno 2014 Rurouni Kenshin: The Legend Ends 2014 Rurouni Kenshin: The Final 2021 Rurouni Kenshin: The Beginning 2021.

After watching 5 parts, this is the best live action i ever seen.

The movie is nice but not realistic

He get stabbed alot with the swords and servive.

The girl just get a wound in the back and die ,sorry but his wounds where alot bigger then her wounds ,little bit treatment and she would live and he would die by all the wounds he had.

So next time make the movie more realistic ,make if she needed die that she got the sword in her hole boddy ,to show her death .

Or let her servive ,a day later he still got fresh cut in his face but from other wounds you see nothing annymore he just walk like nothing have happend.

Thats the reason why this movie only get 6 stars ,make the movie is believe worthy and you get 10 stars.

This was a really befitting end to a great franchise. It has a slower pace than the others and is actually more of a melodrama and love story than an action movie. When the action kicks in it is great though. Really good use of archive footage from previous films and it all kinds of brings the franchise together, explaining how our hero became who he is. Will genuinely miss these characters. Great movie, great cast, great cinematography and great story. Loved it.