Near the end of his life, a powerful, old warlord abdicates his throne and divides the kingdom among his three sons. He tasks his first son with the leadership of the kingdom, and instructs his next two sons to serve the first. Additionally, all three sons were expected to remain loyal to the warlord, who would retail the title of “Great Lord” for the rest of his life.
While the two oldest sons accept their roles with honor, the third son Saburo ridicules the move. He suggests it's foolish to think the sons would remain loyal and mocks the idea of a ‘peaceful transfer of power’ over a kingdom obtained through bloody conquest. For his insubordination, he is banished. But his warning becomes true when the first son, second son, and warlord grow distrustful of each other. Then, civil war breaks out. Perhaps Saburo can swoop in and save the day?—considering this story is based on the Shakespearian tragedy “King Lear”, I suspect not.
While I more enjoyed the other two Akira Kurosawa films I’ve seen (Seven Samurai and Rashomon), “Ran” was a bonafide epic. The film had tremendous scale, with a variety of expanse settings and hoards of extras shuffling about in battle. This was also the first Kurosawa film I’ve seen in color and the chromatic experience was vivid. With the exception of the opening shot and final battle (set amongst lush green grasses and forests), the landscape and castles were generally devoid of color. But each army carried Star Trek-ian colored armor and banners to help paint contrast and clarity. These colorful swirls of troop movements, along with the orange-red rage of the mid-film fire, stole my attention. This film is beautiful. But perhaps more about me than it, I found it a bit boring. The runtime was outsized for its plot. I personally don’t care for these types of stories (basically “Game of Thrones” without the dragons or special effects). But—I will heed the film’s warnings: Be weary of women with grudges and don't rest on your laurels after violently amassing an empire.