Kenshin, el guerrero samurai 2: Infierno en Kioto

The first films of the two are all the same, and this is no exception – they just promise and promise that the next installment will be totally awesome. We do get a few fights, but they all just set things up for some proper battles, which of course you don't get; but that doesn't mean the fights we see in this one are sloppy, far from it. There are also maybe too many new characters introduced, so if perhaps one of them dies, you don't care because you've had no room to bond with the character at all. The central characters have known each other for a while, so often all it takes is a good look from one of them to know what the other is thinking, and it also feels like they're exchanging telepathic notes. But with Kenshin and Kaoru, it's cute, so we'll let it slide. The film shows us beautiful scenery, opens the doors of time nicely, and takes us back to the early years of the Meiji era. Along with it we hear familiar music and the "yelling voices" – we know all of this from the previous film, so it feels very familiar and a fan of the first film can only be satisfied. The only time the choice of music deviated from my tastes was when they were fighting in Kyoto and Kenshin was showing off on the bridge, and the rock music started playing to go with it. It just threw me completely out of the "mood". Anyway, can't wait for the next installment, it was a nice commercial. (12.12.2014)

Well, for me, a huge disappointment. The first one is a top samurai affair, the second one doesn't carry such high qualities, even though it's shot very decently again, the film doesn't shine much in terms of action. Firstly, the lack of blood is the biggest downside of all, how can someone kill people with a katana without blood spurting? And most importantly, the action is not as well choreographed as the first one, I didn't sweat during the film, I didn't panic, it just "floated" past me (I'll gladly repeat the finale from the first one today, but I won't watch any sequence from the second one in the future, and that's a shame). What originally could have been an action flick turns into a PG-13 fantasy fairy tale for kids. I didn't like it and was even bored at times. 55% (16.12.2014)