MovieFreak.com - "James Clavell's Shogun" DVD Review by Dennis Landmann

Richard Chamberlain stars as John Blackthorne, an English navigator shipwrecked off the coast of Japan. Rescued, he becomes an eyewitness to a deadly struggle involving Toranaga (Toshiro Mifune), a feuding warlord intent on becoming Shogun—the supreme military dictator. At the same time, Blackthorne is irresistibly drawn into the turmoil and finds himself vying to become the first-ever Gai-jin (Foreigner) to be made a Samurai warrior.

With Shogun began the birth of mini-series done right. Presented on a well-designed and epic scale, this nine-hour presentation gives an insight into the people and culture of 17th century feudal Japan, but it also deals with issues like social conflict, love, opportunity, belief systems (Protestant and Catholic religion), and many more. Shogun also provides viewers with an accurate historical account from which much knowledge can be gained. The sense of realism is fascinating because for one thing it portrays the Japanese society with great care and detail. Another reason is conflict between the characters feels more realistic because the Japanese speak in their native language and there are no subtitles for the viewer to understand what they're saying, not to mention Chamberlain's character not getting a word of it. I find the lack of communication usually proves successful during times of conflict. It can add some interesting tension to a scene, and it works well here.

Certainly any mini-series is a great undertaking, but back in the days, namely 1980, resources weren't as readily available like today. But the production team did an incredible job with the scenery, sets, decorations, etc. Meanwhile, director Jerry London gets some good performances out of the actors. Aside from his skillful and paced direction, Chamberlain and Toshiro Mifune (Yojimbo, The Hidden Fortress) share and hold the screen very well opposite each other. There are times when Chamberlain goes a bit over the top and he really doesn't possess the most intimidating face and physique of a pirate, but he handles the character very nicely. Mifune turns in a convincing, menacing performance as his character is obviously involved in a serious struggle for power.

Also, Yoko Shimada plays the love interest to a fine degree. On a larger scale, almost all of the Japanese actors are very good here. They bring depth and recognizable expressions to the characters so that the audience can get an idea who these people are. Despite fantastic impressions, the acting isn't perfect or totally consistent. There are moments of downtime and dialogue that overdoes it. Sometimes dialogue fits nicely into a conversation while at other times it doesn't. Those things happen.

In terms of the script, Eric Bercovici, who adapts James Clavell's famous and respected novel, keeps the story moving bit by bit. Shogun is at times littered with slow moments. Those who seek pure entertainment won't be totally satisfied with this presentation. On the other hand, Shogun includes genres for almost every group. There's action for the guys, like the exciting swordplay, romance for the girls, politics for those who are interested in debates and such, religion that could be open for discussion and reflection, and other things. For all its praise, however, Shogun also sees some problems. Like I said, this 9-hour mini-series includes its share of boring places. Again, the level of acting is not always consistent. Granted, these and other minor problems don't affect the overall impression Shogun makes on the viewer.

I haven't read James Clavell's novel, but I can discern from the norm of the practice that it's probably better than the series. But the level of engineering and achievement of this mini-series shows certain books can get a fair representation on film. Shogun is also a very beautiful looking film, from the high waters of the ocean to peaceful landscapes in Japan. Adding to the mood of the series is Maurice Jarre's phenomenal score. His music is always terrific and here it fits perfectly. It evokes all the right kinds of moods and emotions. In closing, Shogun is presented on a great scale with much care and detail. It tells an involving story and features an interesting culture that was previously not explored in great detail. It takes time to get through it all, but Shogun is very well worth watching.

Paramount presents Shogun in standard 1.33:1 fullscreen format. The material here is from television from the 1980s and quality did not exceed mediocrity. For this presentation, however, Paramount cleans up the print image and gives the series a much brighter, cleaner look. Colors look very nice and detail is fairly admirable. There are instances of specks and scratches all over the presentation, but they don't really detract from the viewing experience. All in all a very nice affair.

Paramount presents Shogun in English 5.1 Dolby Digital Surround Sound. This track is good, but nothing special. The front speakers get all of the attention as one would expect. Certainly the 5.1 takes over a great deal from the English Mono track that is also available during the action sequences and whenever music starts up. The overall auditory experience is very satisfactory and offers very nice quality for a series that's over 20 years old and premiered on TV.

There are some generous extras available here, though the overall quantity is nothing exceptional. Still, quality precedes over quantity. Shogun comes in a 5-disc set and the packaging is arranged very nicely with the discs fitting into a fold-out tray with a cool picture displaying two beautiful samurai swords.

The first extra worth mentioning is a brand-new making-of documentary. The Making of Shogun is about 80 minutes in length and breaks down into 13 segments (which can also be viewed separately) that give an informative and detailed behind-the-scenes look at the production. Participating in new interviews are Jerry London, Eric Bercovici, Richard Chamberlain, Yoko Shimada, John Rhys-Davies, and other creative people. For some odd reason Maurice Jarre is not featured here and instead of using his score in the documentary some unknown music sounds off in its place. The documentary acknowledges but doesn't detail aspects of the troubled production, such as going over the budget. Some footage from 1979 appears here, but not much else from those days. Overall, the documentary covers some interesting things and is worth watching even though it drags on at times.

Next up are 3 Historical Featurettes that provide more information on the Samurai, the Tea Ceremony, and the Geisha. It's nice material and translates the educational facets from the series. Last but not least is an Audio Commentary by Jerry London on selected scenes. The scenes are kind of short and London keeps his comments on the basic level, that is, discussing only general aspects of the series, such as costumes, locations, sets, etc. If you like the mini-series you should give these scenes a look-see.

A note on the presentation of the series: Paramount presents it as one huge film instead of showing it as it originally aired on TV. Opening credits begin at the start of the series and end credits roll after the very last episode. Some of the narrative as a mini-series is now changed and chapter selections don't really assist much. There is no booklet here that explains what specifics each disc contains. But it's nice enough you're able to select to view the mini-series with optional English subtitles.

Shogun is worth watching for many reasons and I think I covered them already. For a TV mini-series this sure is an epic an fascinating presentation. The story is involving and the music score is beautiful. The DVD offers nice video/audio quality and an interesting documentary about the production. Shogun comes highly recommended.

THE SERIES	8
THE VIDEO	7
THE AUDIO	7
THE EXTRAS	6
OVERALL (not an average)	8