IGN.com|AskMen.com|Rotten Tomatoes|GameSpy|FilePlanet|TeamXbox|CheatsCodesGuides|GameStats|Direct2Drive

RottenTomatoes.com

Register | Log In | What is RT?
It's our 10th birthday, so you get presents!
Home Movies DVD Celebrities News Critics Photos & Trailers The Vine Forums
Box Office | Best Of | Certified Fresh | Showtimes
RT Search Powered by Google
 
MOVIES / ON DVD / RAN
Ran

Rate This Movie

Write a Review
Share This Movie
Add to List
Buy Poster

Bookmark and Share

Ran (1985)

96%
100%
96%
N/A
N/A
N/A
96 %
Reviews Counted: 51 Fresh: 49  Rotten:2 Average Rating: 8.7/10
 
Consensus: Akira Kurosawa's sprawling, epic take on King Lear should be required viewing for fans of westerns, war movies, or period films in general.
 

How does the Tomatometer work?

The Tomatometer measures the percentage of positive reviews from Approved Tomatometer Critics for a certain movie.[-]

Runtime: 2 hrs 40 mins

Synopsis: For his 27th film, the "sensei" of Japanese cinema, Akira Kurosawa, transposes Shakespeare's KING LEAR to feudal Japan. RAN, which translates as "chaos" or "turmoil," is the tragic tale of Lord Hidetora, a warlord who decides to divide his empire among his three sons on the eve of his 70th... For his 27th film, the "sensei" of Japanese cinema, Akira Kurosawa, transposes Shakespeare's KING LEAR to feudal Japan. RAN, which translates as "chaos" or "turmoil," is the tragic tale of Lord Hidetora, a warlord who decides to divide his empire among his three sons on the eve of his 70th birthday. However, Hidetora's youngest and most compassionate son, Saburo, defiantly objects to this hasty decision and is disowned by the proud, stubborn ruler. Once the two eldest sons take control of the empire, they quickly turn on their father and begin vying for total control over the land. As Hidetora is banished from his own kingdom in a bloody battle, he must confront the consequences of his violent, ruthless past. Ten years in the making, RAN represents the culmination of Kurosawa's career by revisiting his skill at adapting Shakespeare, as evidenced in THRONE OF BLOOD, and displaying the cinematic splendor of his other landmark films such as SEVEN SAMURAI and RASHOMON. With its magnificent costumes, breathtaking settings, and amazingly photographed battle sequences, the film is truly stunning. An epic on the grandest of scales, RAN is not only one of Kurosawa's finest films, it is a glorious masterpiece of Japanese cinema. [More]

Genre: Foreign Films

Starring: Tatsuya Nakadai, Akira Terao, Jinpachi Nezu, Daisuke Ryu, Mieko Harada

Director: Akira Kurosawa
Producer: Masato Hara, Serge Silberman
Screenwriter: Akira Kurosawa, Hideo Oguni, Masato Ide

DVD Info

Release:

Oct 11, 2006

[DVD Details]

DVD Features:

  • Keep Case
  • Widescreen - 1.85

Audio:

  • Stereo - Japanese
  • Subtitles - English - Optional

Additional Release Material:

  • Interview - 1. Tatsuya Nakadai - Actor
  • Bonus Documentary - 1. Appreciation of the film by director Sidney Lumet
  • 2. AK, a 74-minute film by Chris Marker examining making of RAN
  • 3. AKIRA KUROSAWA: IT IS WONDERFUL TO CREATE, a 37-minute "making of" documentary
  • 4. IMAGE: KUROSAWA'S CONTINUITY, 35-minute reconstruction of RAN through Kurosawa's paintings and sketches
  • Trailers - 1. Original Trailer

Text/Photo Galleries:

  • Essays - 1. New essays by film critic Michael Wilmington and Shakespeare scholar Anthony Davies

Reviews

 
T-Meter Critics
 
 
Top Critics
 
 
RT Community
 
 
My Critics
 
 
My Friends
 
 
DVD
 
 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
Text View | 1 2 3 >> >|
Arrange By: Name | Fresh | Rotten | Date | Source
 
 
Ratings Image
5/5

A landmark of world cinema, this is a rousing, staggering epic and a haunting drama of timeless significance.

Full Review | comment Comment
07/01/08
Jamie Russell
Channel 4 Film
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
Ratings Image
N/A

The shift and sway of a nation divided is vast, the chaos terrible, the battle scenes the most ghastly ever filmed, and the outcome is even bleaker than Shakespeare's.

Full Review | comment Comment
06/24/06
Time Out
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
Ratings Image
5/5

Perfectly paced and beautifully directed with some simply superb acting.

Full Review | comment Comment
05/14/04
David Parkinson
Empire Magazine
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
Ratings Image
5/5

No review available.

comment Comment
11/15/03
Rich Cline
Shadows on the Wall
Ratings Image
5/5

With Tatsuya Nakadi's betrayed warlord and Mieko Harada's scheming daughter-in-law both superb, this is a must-have to watch repeatedly.

Full Review | comment Comment
06/06/02
David Parkinson
Empire Magazine
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
Ratings Image
N/A

It is a film that already belongs to the ages.

Full Review | comment Comment
07/09/08
Richard Schickel
TIME Magazine
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
Ratings Image
N/A

For aficionados of the war movie, the western, and the period action epic, Ran is necessary viewing.

Full Review | comment Comment
07/01/08
Amy Taubin
Village Voice
Ratings Image
N/A

At age 75, the director has made his most costly epic to date, and it's a dazzlingly successful addition to his distinguished career.

Full Review | comment Comment
07/01/08
Variety Staff
Variety
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
Ratings Image
N/A

Akira Kurosawa's 1985 film is slightly marred by some too obvious straining toward masterpiece status, yet it's a stunning achievement in epic cinema.

Full Review | comment Comment
07/01/08
Dave Kehr
Chicago Reader
Ratings Image
4/5

No review available.

comment Comment
05/10/08
Cole Smithey
ColeSmithey.com
Ratings Image
4/5

No review available.

comment Comment
12/08/07
John A. Nesbit
Old School Reviews
Ratings Image
A

For his visually sumptuous epic, Kurosawa chose the civil wars of sixteenth-century Japan as a setting so that he could criticize technological progress and wars of the present.

Full Review | comment Comment
10/31/06
Emanuel Levy
EmanuelLevy.Com
Ratings Image
2/5

No review available.

comment Comment
10/18/06
Bill Chambers
Film Freak Central
Ratings Image
4/5

An achievement of visual and thematic grandeur.

Full Review | comment Comment
03/18/06
James Kendrick
Q Network Film Desk
Ratings Image
3/5

No review available.

comment Comment
10/18/05
Mark R. Leeper
rec.arts.movies.reviews
Ratings Image
4/5

No review available.

comment Comment
10/10/05
Jake Euker
F5 (Wichita, KS)
Ratings Image
5/5

No review available.

comment Comment
07/16/05
Emanuel Levy
EmanuelLevy.Com
Ratings Image
5/5

No review available.

comment Comment
11/29/04
Angela Baldassarre
Sympatico.ca
Ratings Image
5/5

No review available.

comment Comment
03/31/04
Matt Brunson
Creative Loafing
Ratings Image
4/5

No review available.

comment Comment
03/28/04
Ryan Cracknell
Movie Views
1 - 20 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
Text View | 1 2 3 >> >|
See More Topics...

Related Forums

One of my favorites
by: Truthseeker 5/30/04


2003 Wellspring Masterworks Edition
by: Oblivion4.37 4/30/04


The Best
by: Sam the man 3/24/04
all

News

Fantastic New Pics from Yimou's "Golden Flower"
posted by Scott Weinberg November 01, 2006
I'll keep this short and sweet: If you're a fan of movies like "Hero" and "House of Flying...


Trailer Bulletin: Zhang Yimou's "Curse of the Golden Flower"
posted by Scott Weinberg September 05, 2006
Yimou Zhang, the man who brought you "Hero" and "House of Flying Daggers," has another epic...

Around the Network

• Ran at Rotten Tomatoes
About| Site Map| Help| RT To Go| Contact Us| Critics Submission| Linking to RT| Licensing| Movie List| Celebs List| Newsletter

IGN.com | GameSpy | Comrade | Arena | FilePlanet | ModCenter | GameSpy Technology
TeamXbox | Planets | Vaults | VE3D | CheatsCodesGuides | GameStats | GamerMetrics
AskMen.com | Rotten Tomatoes | Direct2Drive


By continuing past this page, and by the continued use of this site, you agree to be bound by and abide by the User Agreement.
Copyright 1998-2008, IGN Entertainment, Inc. About IGN | Support | Advertise | Privacy Policy | User Agreement | Subscribe to RT's XML feed! IGN RSS Feeds
IGN's enterprise databases running Oracle, SQL and MySQL are professionally monitored and managed by Pythian Remote DBA
Certain product data ©1995-present Muze, Inc. For personal use only. All rights reserved.