It was with pleasure I noted during the opening scenes of this film that it is based on a book by Ryotaro Shiba, a true favourite of mine amongst writers. It was even better, therefore, that the movie jumped to a scene where the author narrated a story about the meeting of Ishida Mitsunari and Toyotomi Hideyoshi. These original scenes piqued my interest and turned this into a thrilling story which continued in a similar way.
There is a bit of treachery involved and some ninjas pass through the scenes though unlike the typical Western depictions, these people are human and have flaws. Overall, however, we follow the career of Ishida as it develops from a young lad into a powerful lord of Japan. There is an interesting aspect of morality that enjoins this as Ishida is often depicted in a valorous manner, especially contrasting him to Tokugawa Ieyasu, his occasional enemy. The politicking is overall more thrilling than one might expect though a few scenes are perhaps not very clear in what is going on.
Overall, however, a very enjoyable movie based on, what I suspect is, a very interesting book!
