Crazy Samurai 400 vs 1, also known as Crazy Samurai Musashi, is a highly divisive action movie. Some argue that it has one of the greatest action sequences ever filmed. Others, that it has the worst story (some would even say no story whatsoever) and is the most boring thing ever put to screen. The answer to this debate is subjective to the viewer based on what they value more. Either way, Crazy Samurai can be used as a case study for film students for a whole variety of reasons. Crazy Samurai is a continuous shot action movie, but that is as far as it's thought through.
Curiously, Crazy Samurai was filmed in 2011, completed in 2013, but never released in theaters until 2020. It stars Tak Sakaguchi as Miyamoto Musashi and was directed by Yuji Shimomura. The meager story of Crazy Samurai is this: Miyamoto Musashi is lured into a trap by the Yoshioka Clan out of revenge for his victorious fatal duels against three of their clan leaders. Musashi swiftly defeats the final duelist and is then ambushed by more than 400 warriors. This movie is loosely based on the real Japanese duelist and his famous fights against the clan.
1917 but with Samurai
The main selling feature of the Crazy Samurai movie is that the fight between Musashi and the 400 samurai is filmed as one continuous shot, very much like 1917 or Birdman. The similarities end there. It is touted as a 77-minute no-cut action sequence of sword fighting. 1917 had depth of character, changing scenery, and a functioning plotline as a framework for the action. After about eight minutes of basic story setup, Crazy Samurai starts its 77-minute battle.
The action slowly moves around a feudal compound. There are some variations to the fight when named samurai face off one-on-one against Musashi, like boss battles. However, it is difficult to maintain attention or interest when everything around these small variations is repetitive. Whereas 1917 is a cinematographer’s masterpiece, Crazy Samurai has a rinse and repeat revolving door of rehearsed micro duels.
Choreography Trade Secrets…
Fans could argue the choreography was spectacular, witnessing poor exhausted Tak Sakaguchi continuously fight all these guys without stopping is fascinating. During the shot, Tak broke his fingers, a few ribs, and his back teeth. Yet he never ended the scene until the entire sequence was over. Other viewers could argue there was no choreography at all. Watching closely, repetitive patterns emerge.
Unsurprisingly, it is not 400 samurai fighting Tak. There are maybe a little over two dozen stuntmen on screen at any one time. Hilariously, once viewers start to recognize these stuntmen, since they wear the same costume for all 77 minutes, not only do they revolve through the crowd, but the attacks Tak makes against them is the exact same every time.
Notably, there is the young samurai in a black and dark blue gi who gets bonked on the head, the samurai all in black with a bright blue right leg exposed who gets thwacked on the leg or sometimes slashed, the two guys who wear brown that get slashed near the shoulder, the younger one’s sleave noticeably tore during the shoot and it was sewn back together later on, and the guy in light grey who gets his sword guard overcome and then gets slashed in the face as he is brought to the ground. This guy also regularly gets disarmed by Tak, who then fights with two swords for a bit until he throws it back into the crowd (likely back to the light grey samurai).
The action also repeats as Tak moves along through the compound. He regularly gets circled and has to fend off single fighters, or as he makes his way down a street there is the rush attack, where the samurai line up and run at him one at a time. These things repeat constantly. Once the head bonk guy gets recognized, every single time he is seen on screen he most certainly gets bonked on the head. It is almost as if Tak rehearsed little fights with each stuntman, and then he performs the attack move once the color-coded guy reaches him. When a samurai is “killed” they can be seen crawling off screen and then working their way to the back of the crowd to approach Tak again.
In addition to the boss battles breaking up the fight, Tak has water and snack breaks deliberately scattered throughout the compound. The audience can presume either Musashi planned his route ahead of time (even though the ambush was a surprise attack), or the “choreographers” needed a way to sustain their star from passing out.
Best Viewed As An Experiment
If viewed as an experiment in action and continuous shot choreography, Crazy Samurai 400 vs 1 is certainly an entry in the field. If viewed as a period piece samurai movie, well, there really is not much to see. One could throw a dart at a list of samurai movies and find one worth watching better than this.