After the arrival of Commodore Matthew Perry (Danny Huston)  and his “Black Ships”, feudal Japan suddenly becomes aware of the issues of being closed off from the rest of the world. Fearing the unknown changes that will happen with the country opening up and agreeing with trade with the western world, the different regions try to figure out a way to deal with it. The most bizarre is by Itakura Katsuakira (Hiroki Hasegawa), who orders his samurai to prove their strength with a foot race. The only issue is one of his most trusted men, Jinnai (Takeru Satoh), is a spy working for the shogun and he has mistaken the race as a rebellion. So now it’s a literal race against time, as the samurai race to win and Jinnai tries to stop the impending massacre.

Based on real events, Samurai Marathon (2019) is a mostly great action drama. It is loosely factual with plenty of research given to the time period. But the tone and pacing muddle the overall picture. The first half of the movie is a shaky start with exposition being fired off like word vomit. The arrival of Matthew Perry is too fast with no proper build-up, then it is equally confusing when he is introduced to the ensemble cast and all of their issues. 

Other than the rocking start, Director Bernard Rose (Candyman) makes a visually stunning movie that mostly avoids excessive style. In one of his festival screenings, film critic and Japanese film expert Tom Mes talked about foreign film production and how the different viewpoints are usually noticed. Here it makes sense because the story is about East meets West and the worries of change. But The tone doesn’t feel western or anti-Japanese. Instead, it feels like a complete co-production between the British direction and the Japanese crew.  This is a very Japanese movie without any form of nationalism or flag-waving. This isn’t a case like Tom Cruise’s movie The Last Samurai, where a white hero saves the day or the story is “dumbed” down for Western tastes. 

The screenplay by Rose, Hiroshi Saito, and Kikumi Yamagishi, keeps the story interesting and makes the race against time compelling. The multiple subplots and characters are given plenty of time. There is plenty of life given to everyone with little details like some samurai getting sick on the road, stopping to gasp for air, and even sneaking through the woods looking for shortcuts. 

The cinematography by Takuro Ishizaka is simply stunning with gliding movements as samurai run through the woods. The sword fights are also excellently choreographed by Hiroshi Kuze (Bushido), with plenty of brutal hits and blood. Philip Glass also adds a haunting musical score to the surroundings, making it easy to be engrossed in the drama.

While the start may lose some viewers, Samurai Marathon quickly finds itself and becomes a fault but satisfying action drama with some stunning visuals.

Well Go USA releases the movie on a nice Blu-ray disc. The 1080p HD picture is near perfect with stunning colors and sharp focus. The black levels are smooth and there are no DNR issues. The 5.1 Japanese Audio is spotless with clear sound and no hiss. English subtitles are included. Sadly the only extras are trailers for other Well Go USA releases.

Director- Bernard Rose

Cast- Takeru Satoh, Nana Komatsu, Mirai Moriyama.

Country of Origin- Japan/ UK

Discs- 1

Distributor- Well Go USA

Reviewer- Tyler Miller