HIROKIN: THE LAST SAMURAI is the type of movie I would have found 20 years ago on the video store shelf with the type of actors you would see in many direct-to-video productions.  Julian Sands is evil and controlling as the evil dictator Griffin while Wes Bently the hero stumbles back and forth between a sleepwalking acting state and mild anger revenge acting.   No matter how bad or good the movie would have been, Julian Sands would still shine through with his character like he did as the Warlock movies.   Wes Bentley reminds me of the Patrick Swayze character in another post-apocalyptic movie called STEEL DAWN where the lead character also had a sword and it also took place out in the desert.   No matter how crude the people live in this movie, you do wonder how the bad guys manage to have hovering ships (due to the fact the planet has a mineral which makes metal float).   However, it is an independent production that is probably restrained by its budget and still the production crew manages to create some good sets and costumes.

HIROKIN: THE LAST SAMURAI takes place in the future on a faraway planet where Hirokin is out to avenge the death of his family at the hands of the tyrannical Viceroy Griffin.   He gets in touch with the force (I mean wei, but you can tell the filmmakers were influenced by STAR WARS when they wrote the script).  Hirokin is told by the rebel leader of the Arid people that he is supposed to unite the tribes and he needs to forget revenge (and save the tribes from the tyranny of Lord Griffin).   HIROKIN: THE LAST SAMURAI cribs from several different stories including STAR WARS, DUNE, that Patrick Swayze movie, and probably even the JOHN CARTER OF MARS novels.  You have a man longing for the family he believes dead while the oldest daughter of the tribe (aka the daughter of Moss) is in love with Hirokin and wants to get busy with him.  Meanwhile, Julian Sands gives a great evil performance and he probably could read the phone book in an evil way (which would be pretty cool if you called information and got Julian Sands to deliver the phone number listing in an evil voice).

HIROKIN is a movie that has nothing to with samurai other than some swordplay and you wonder why they named the movie HIROKIN: THE LAST SAMURAI.    It got Wes Bently (from the recent HUNGER GAMES) as the title character.  The movie does drag for the first 30 minutes before improving only to have the action scenes and the acting of Julian Sands and Angus MacFayden to keep one’s attention.   It is an underdeveloped movie which could have used a better way to start out the film and give you more reason to care for my lead as he just sulks around and wants to go on a revenge quest before being taught the force (I mean wei) by his own personal Jedi Master (I mean peaceful zen master rebel leader).

SPECIAL FEATURES:

Six deleted scenes that were cut for pacing and story reasons.  They all are scored which means they probably edited the scenes out late in the process.

CREATING ARADLUS: THE MAKING OF HIROKON: THE LAST SAMURAI plays like a trailer for a making-of featurette.  I would have loved a longer featurette that went into more detail of making this film instead of a quick two minutes and 50 seconds with lots of quick cut clips from the making-of the movie with some interview bits with writer/ director Alejo Mo-Sun.

TRAINING THE SAMURAI: FIGHT CHOREOGRAPHY is a brief two minutes of Wes Bently rehearsing the fight choreography.

Extras are rounded out with the theatrical trailer and previews for other releases from Lionsgate.

FINAL ANALYSIS:  HIROKIN: THE LAST SAMURAI reminds me of the days when many direct-to-video productions flooded the shelves waiting to be discovered.   I wish they went into more detail on the making of this independent production even if the movie is a misfire which could have been better and only Julian Sands escapes with his dignity intact.    I enjoyed the movie as something that makes for a good time waster as a rainy day rental.