Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		5.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		3.0
Overall		4.5

Yojimbo 4K Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov December 16, 2024

Akira Kurosawa's "Yojimbo" (1961) arrives on 4K Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion. The supplemental features on the release include archival audio commentary by film historian Stephen Prince; archival documentary; theatrical trailer; and more. In Japanese, with optional English subtitles. Region-Free.

Note: The text below was initially used for our review of Criterion's first release of Yojimbo in 2010.

Akira Kurosawa’s Yojimbo is a classic western set in... Japan. The film follows a masterless samurai (Toshiro Mifune) who arrives in a small town in the middle of nowhere looking for work. At the local inn, however, he is advised to leave the place as soon as possible. The owner tells the samurai that the town’s two rivaling gangs have driven most ordinary folks away. There is no business, and no one would hire him. But the samurai declines the advice and decides to stay. This is exactly the place he has been looking for -- a crime infested cesspool.

Not long after, three goons challenge the samurai. One of them quickly loses his arm, the other two run away. Impressed with the samurai's skills, the two gang bosses decide to hire him as yojimbo. He promises both that he would consider their offers and make up his mind after he sees how much they are willing to pay him.

Things get complicated when the samurai decides to play the two gangs and force them to kill each other. At first, each of the gang leaders is convinced that it is only a matter of time before the samurai joins them, but then they realize what his plan is and go after him. The samurai is quickly captured and seriously beaten up.

Before the gangsters manage to kill the samurai, he escapes. His wounds heal and eventually he also regains his strength. Filled with anger, he returns to the town and kills all of the gangsters in spectacular fashion.

Critics love to talk about how Yojimbo inspired Sergio Leone to shoot A Fistful of Dollars. They also love to remind us that Kurosawa was an influential figure for many young American directors during the '60s, '70s and '80s. Few of them, however, ever mention that Kurosawa himself was greatly influenced by Russian director Sergei Eisenstein, as well as the writings of Feodor Dostoyevsky, Leo Tolstoy and Maxim Gorky, some of which he filmed during the latter stages of his career.

We know that Kurosawa was also greatly influenced by John Ford, which is one of the reasons why both Yojimbo and Sanjuro have a distinct western look and ambience. Both films also harbor a strong dose of dark humor, though only in Yojimbo the humor reaches far enough to make us comfortable speculating that it might have been meant to effectively criticize Japan’s corrupt socio-political system.

Yojimbo is unlike other samurai that you would see in Japanese cinema. He is brave and dangerous with his sword, but also something of a scoundrel -- money is always on the back of his mind. In one of the most memorable scenes in the film, he takes a great pleasure in watching the gangsters massacring each other. We also repeatedly see him drinking.

The manner in which Yojimbo is lensed is also quite unusual. You would notice in the very beginning of the film how Kurosawa captured Sanjuro from all sorts of different angles, almost completely filling up the screen. Elsewhere, there are many unique rapid camera cuts and zooms that earned Kurosawa the "most Western of Japanese directors" label.

In 1961, Yojimbo won the Best Actor award (Toshiro Mifune) at the Venice Film Festival. A year later, it earned an Oscar nomination for Best Costume Design (Yoshirô Muraki).

Yojimbo 4K Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The release introduces a new 4K restoration of Yojimbo, which is included in this set. In native 4K, the 4K restoration cannot be viewed with Dolby Vision or HDR grades.

The following text appears inside the booklet included with this release:

"The 4K restoration presented on the 4K Blu-ray was created from the 35mm original camera negative. The original 3.0 Perspecta soundtrack was remastered from the 35mm original soundtrack negative by Tokyo Laboratory Ltd. The original monaural soundtrack was remastered from the 35mm optical track by the Criterion Collection."

Please note that all screencaptures included with this article are taken from the 4K Blu-ray and downscaled to 1080p. Therefore, they do not accurately reflect the quality of the content on the 4K Blu-ray.

Yojimbo made its high-definition debut with this release in 2010, which is the only one I have in my library. Earlier tonight, I viewed the new 4K makeover and then spent some time comparing it with the old presentation of the film from the previous release.

The 4K makeover is fabulous. In fact, I am somewhat surprised by the consistent high-quality of the visuals because I expected to see obvious fluctuations introduced by source limitations, similar to the ones observed on the new 4K makeover of Seven Samurai. There are some small fluctuations that are introduced by unique lensing choices, but this is a healthier, noticeably more consistent 4K makeover. I still like the previous presentation a lot, but it is very easy to tell now that the 4K makeover is sourced from superior elements and finalized with superior technology. For example, on a large screen, it is immediately obvious that the visual data that was extracted has better density levels. Also, in many darker areas, shadow nuances and finer details are better, so the dynamic range of these visuals is instantly expanded and improved as well. The 4K makeover produces visuals with notably better fluidity, allowing the entire film to maintain a much more pleasing and consistent filmic appearance. The surface of the visuals is healthy, practically immaculate, too. All in all, in native 4K Yojimbo looks simply sensational now.

Yojimbo 4K Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There are two standard audio tracks on this release: Japanese LPCM 1.0 and Japanese DTS-HD Master Audio 3.0 (which your player will display as a 5.1 track). Optional English subtitles are provided for the main feature. When turned on, they appear inside the image frame.

I usually view Yojimbo with the Mono track. It is very good, but occasionally some extremely mild unevenness in the upper register can be noticed. This is not a flaw, it is how the film's soundtrack was finalized. The 3.0 track has some good enhancements, especially during action material, and dynamic balance is a bit more diverse. A lot of fans of Yojimbo consider it to be very effective, and I tend to agree.

Yojimbo 4K Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

4K BLU-RAY DISC

• Commentary - this archival audio commentary was recorded by film historian Stephen Prince, author of The Warrior's Camera: The Cinema of Akira Kurosawa, exclusively for the Criterion Collection in 2006.

BLU-RAY DISC

• Commentary - this archival audio commentary was recorded by film historian Stephen Prince, author of The Warrior's Camera: The Cinema of Akira Kurosawa, exclusively for the Criterion Collection in 2006.

• Akira Kurosawa: It is Wonderful to Create - an archival documentary about the making of Yojimbo, part of the Toho Masterworks series Akira Kurosawa: It Is Wonderful Create. Included in it are clips from interviews with Akira Kurosawa, actor Tatsuya Nakadai, production designer Yoshiro Muraki, and longtime Kurosawa collaborator Teruyo Nogami, among others. In Japanese, with optional English subtitles. (45 min).

• Theatrical Trailer - presented here is a vintage theatrical trailer for Yojimbo. In Japanese, with optional English subtitles. (3 min).

• Teaser - presented here is a vintage teaser trailer for Yojimbo. In Japanese, with optional English subtitles. (2 min).

• Stills Gallery - a collection of stills from the filming of Yojimbo.

• Booklet - an illustrated booklet featuring a new essay by film scholar Alexander Sesonske and comments from Akira Kurosawa and his cast and crew, as well as technical credits.

Yojimbo 4K Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Yojimbo and Sanjuro are the two Akira Kurosawa films that I have revisited the most over the years. Toshirô Mifune is sensational in both, and I just really like how they are shot. Both films have been recently restored in 4K and will soon be available on 4K Blu-ray. Last night, I viewed the 4K restoration of Yojimbo and could not be happier with it. VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.