The Plot of Goemon:
In a war torn Japan, one man, a master thief, makes it his mission to steal from the rich and give to all the many poor of the land. Goemon (played by Yosuke Eguchi) is just that thief and he does his job very well and is happy with his life until he finds a little blue box inside a vault he has just broken into. It’s Pandora’s box and when opening Goemon releases unforeseen evil on himself, his friends, and nearly everyone that comes into contact with him. Inside that box is the secrets that the ruler Akechi Mitsuhide (played by Kazuaki Kiriya) will any lengths to make sure is never revealed. Now Goemon must fight off his only friend that has been sent out to find him while at the same time figure out what to do with the warmongering leader as well as protect the woman he loves.

My Take on Goemon:
This movie is mind blowing as to the grand scale of it. With a little research I found that this movie is based off the true/mythical story of the actual man Ishikawa Goemon who was a man that did rob from the rich and give to the poor. This movie ‘Goemon’ portrays this character in history in a way that would make any children’s story look like it was just blubbering of an idiot. There’s so much scale to this movie that it’s really hard not to get drawn into being amazed.
At times I was finding it a little difficult at following who all the characters where in the story but over all the plot line is easy enough to follow. In the present the leader is a evil man that just wants to have power and he shows it by killing whenever possible. Before, in the past the leader was a strong man who knew justice, was kind to his people, and most of all loved by them. The old leader was betrayed by the man that was his main subordinate who has help in killing the loved leader. Now it’s up to Goemon, a ninja who has stopped being one, has learned of this treachery and must avenge (though he says that’s not what they would want) the leader and his parents that were killed by this now evil leader.

What I Liked About Goemon:
‘Goemon’ is a beautiful movie to watch as far as visuals go. This Blu Ray brings out all the wonderful colors that are being used in this movie making it so vibrant. What is amazing though is how well the cinematography would go from showing a scene that of a huge scale with a large building taking up the main portion of the screen and thousands of people wondering the streets to transition smoothly into showing just a normal close up of one character or just a medium wide shot of a few characters without it looking corny or bad.

There’s so many colors being used here that it’s almost like looking at the inside of a crayon box if all the colors were organized enough to create pictures. Though it’s not the way the film looks that made me like it so much, it’s how the blending of the fighting and having such a in depth story line has been done here in ‘Goemon’. The fights in this movie are so unbelievable that if this was like most movies where all that is focused on is the fights, it would have been comical. Instead the fights, as hugely fake as they are portrayed here, they work well with the story line. Having such a in depth and a story that was one that if it was done without all the fighting, would still be a really good story to follow and watch.

What I Didn’t Like About Goemon:
Main portion of this film that bugged me was all the subtitles. Typically I don’t mind a subtitled movie and have no problem following them. Not the case with ‘Goemon’. Being that this is a 2 hour long movie, it’s a movie that has a lot of story going on in it, and fight scenes that put video games to shame, it’s just too much at times to try to follow the subtitles while trying to keep my eye on the scene happening at the moment.
Both the scenes and the subtitles go by pretty fast at times making it where when I was doing the reading I missed an important or just cool moment in the film. But then when I was trying to pay attention to the scene or fight, I would miss out on something that was being said that was important. I just don’t like have to pause and rewind the movie over and over again in many spots to try to be able to take in everything. Though I don’t think this movie would work if it had been dubbed over but the subtitles still made it a little annoying.

Last Thought About Goemon:
Easiest and best way to describe ‘Goemon’ is that this is a film that has brought to life a true story that’s got a lot of myth involved in it and making it look like how anyone would have imagined it to look when being told this story.