Samurai X: O Inferno de Kyoto (2014)

Things Begin To Heat Up In This Gripping Second Film!

Kenshin is trying his best to live a peaceful life. He lives at the Kaoru's dogo along with his new friends, Miss Megumi and the humorous Sanosuke.

Of course, a man with the past that Kenshin has, there are always those desiring his downfall. Others seek him out for help. And the new government does just that when Shishio shows up with a massive army and colorful lieutenants, each one embodying a different form of crazy. Shishio, however, seems to be every dark trait rolled into one. This is a guy that makes the Joker look partially sane.

After Kenshin sees the decimation of Shishio's first attack, and the weeping and wailing families of Shishio's victims, he agrees that Shishio must be stopped.

I love how, in each film, Kenshin's enemies become harder and fiercer, bringing about more difficult challenges. And with each challenge comes the ultimate one for Kenshin: will he resort to killing in order to save?

Once again, the characters are spot-on. They are colorful and flamboyant, each bringing something interesting to the table. New characters are introduced, and none of them disappoint.

And, of course, the action sequences are unparalleled. At least, for me, as I've not seen anything remotely close to this. I've seen some featurettes on youtube, and I'm astounded by how fast and precise the action sequences are put together.

But, as good as the action sequences are, they are not hollow because they go together with a fantastic story, with Kenshin as its centerpiece. A man trying to change, and being challenged at every turn. Being told that he's insane to even try by virtually everyone except the one person who believes in him: Kaoru.

Pathfinders are those who create their own path. And most of the time, it's unique and original to the point where they are mocked by society and those who say, "You're crazy! It can't be done!" Pathfinders prove that it can if we only have the courage to try.

I'm also not sure you can stop with this film. A cliffhanger almost invites you to look at your clock and then say, "The hell with it!" before immediately starting the next one!

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Every film in this epic saga is an amazing watch.

I watched, back-to-back, in this order:
Rurouni Kenshin: The Beginning, 2021
Rurouni Kenshin: Origins, 2012
Rurouni Kenshin 2: Kyoto Inferno, 2014
Rurouni Kenshin 3: The Legend Ends, 2014
Rurouni Kenshin: The Final, 2021
I watched the first 3 ages ago, but decided to watch all of them again, in story, not release, order, which I recommend doing.

I absolutely love these films to bits. The life of the main character is a mix of almost aimless at times, tragic, enlightenment and atonement.

The fact the film about Kenshin's origins, was made 9 years after the character first appeared on screen, is amazing. The main reason being, when watched in the order I did, it is a seamless story.

Many cast members appear throughout, pieces from the earlier, film 1, are blended in so when watching the next instalment, it makes complete sense. I was honestly blown away.

Satoh Takeru is brilliant in every film. The sword fights are incredible and they must have taken all the cast involved, a huge amount of work and energy.

The pace of each film is excellent, with a balance of action, everyday life, love, friendships, fighting for a cause (sometimes blindly) and defeating not only enemies, but those taking advantage of the powerless. Some sad elements too. There is also humour and a growing camaraderie between some characters that began as enemies.

I love Himura Kenshin and how he evolves. Supporting characters are varied, some villains are pretty OTT, strong female characters and the cast in all the films is great.
Films are rarely, if ever, perfect, but these just do it for me. Firm favourites.

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This is also confirmed to be a great movie.

This is also confirmed to be a great movie.
The filming and editing are sublime. We could easily notice on one of the big fights, the still burning ashes floating around the scene, giving us instant flashbacks to the anime. Really nice touch.
The action is great. Himura is perfectly portrayed, with all of his goofy nuances, deep honor, shame, guilt, and killer instinct. And the same can be said of the remaining characters. Sanosuke is as lovable as ever. And Sojiro is perfectly depicted in his psychopath childish assassin persona.
We feel like we could show this movie to people that have never seen the anime, and they would still love it. Great work guys.

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After an amazing first movie, they somehow completely butchered the sequels.

The first of the original 3 Rurouni Kenshin live-action movies was absolutely brilliant (as I elaborated on in detail in my review for that entry). Unfortunately, however, the second and third installments of the live-action trilogy are not only not anywhere near as good as the first (either overall or in terms of adaptation), they're really just not very good movies, period (nor are either of them standalone). Don't get me wrong, the production, fight choreography, and acting are (mostly) all still at the same level (indeed, the fight with the dual-blade-wielder in movie 2 is at least worth watching just on its own), but movie 2 is otherwise quite forgettable, some of the violence becomes overly OTT to the point of tastelessness by movie 3, the story is bizarrely (and fruitlessly) butchered to hell and back, and-- most egregiously-- the characterization flies right out the window, utterly ruining one of the manga's more interesting characters and caricaturizing more than several others.

TL;DR: Don't watch these 'sequels' 😕-- just leave it at watching the excellent first one (and then read the manga afterwards instead).

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