Wow, just wow. My rating above is not accurate because I give The Final an 11/10. I am honestly left awestruck with what I just watched. I did not know this film series could transcend the limits of cinema any higher than the standard the previous three movies had set, but I am so glad to say that they not only managed to pull it off, but they literally blew it out of the water with this one and overexceeded expectations in every aspect of the film. Rurouni Kenshin The Final is the best action movie I have ever seen in my life, and it's not even close at all.

The fights were out of this world mindblowing. Loved to see more of the side characters in action as well, they got their shine with their superb fight scenes too. Cinematography was amazing, the movie truly shines as a full fledged, well developed action drama. They nailed the drama aspect perfectly on this one, better than the first three and I love to see it. The mood and emotional weight was so heavy, this film was every bit my vibe and I loved every second of it from start to end. Somehow, someway, they even managed to improve the already amazing soundtrack of the previous three movies and I loved that they added music to more scenes. As great as the previous three movies are, The Final easily makes them look and feel like they were on training wheels, in my opinion.

Yukishiro Enishi and his gang were all so scary and menacing, I loved every bit of them. The villain writing was just so perfectly well done. Enishi and his group are exactly what I want villains to be. What else is there to say, perfectly casted and executed from top to bottom. Every actor and actress excelled in each of their own respective roles and brought a new level of depth to their character.

I am so thankful to all of the creators and actors and actresses who made this film series possible. It's been an amazing 10 years, I give a sincere thank you, truly from the bottom of my heart. The two year wait was so worth it. I am so grateful, I can't wait to see The Beginning next! Thank you, Kenshin.

Keishi Otomo returns to the Rurouni Kenshin franchise with a direct sequel to the Kyoto duology called Rurouni Kenshin: The Final, this film was filmed back-to-back with The Beginning which takes place before the events of the first film. With it being a franchise with many characters of likeable and most being well written, there are a lot of characters returning, heroes and villains. Some are Kaoru, Sanosuke, Saito, Aoshi and Misao.

Rurouni Kenshin: The Final adapts the Jinchu Arc which marks the first appearance of Yukishiro Enishi and Yukishiro Tomoe. Enishi witnessed the (accidental) killing of his older sister, by her then-husband, Himura Kenshin. Filled with grief and anger, he swore to bring jinchu "judgment from man" to the man who killed his only sister. Ten years later, Yukishiro Enishi have formed The Six Comrades, a group of six men (himself included),to assist him in his revenge against Kenshin, also being the boss of the Shanghai Mafia. We quicky learn that he was the person who supplied Makimachi Misao in the Kyoto arc, so Enishi have been pulling some of the strings.

I'll be totally honest here, I didn't really like the first arc, I found it okey at most. The second act was an improvement but the editing and some of the writing wasn't the best, also The Six Comrades came off rather silly and not menacing enough. But I appreciated the costumes and how accurate it was to the anime and manga. There were no emotion or stakes in the fight sequences, but that changed in the third act. Oh yes indeed. The third and final act was truly amazing, with Himura Kenshin going up against Yukishiro Enishi, the fight between them are some of the finest fight sequences in the franchise (up to this point) and there's true emotion as the history behind them is well written and it's easy to sympathize with both of them, it's also an unpredictable action sequence that kept me on the edge of my seat.

The musical score wasn't as epic in scale as Kyoto Inferno and The Legend Ends, but Naoki Sato created a great score that kept it suspense and dramatic. It helped a lot with the fight sequences. The fight choreography was stunning, like always. Takeru Satoh's performance as Himura Kenshin continues to be a clear highlight in the franchise, the dramatic work and the stunt work, great actor. The director and cinematographer shot the movie for more than 7 months and was carried out at 43 locations nationwide, including Kyoto, Hiroshima and Osaka. There's some truly beautiful locations and the sets they built and used, remarkable. The cinematography and direction were top notch.

Rurouni Kenshin: The Final had a great ending which tied up things nicely, and this was supposed to be the last movie. But I just feel like Keishi Otomo nor the cast is done with the franchise, it feels like there are endless of opportunities, another film with Kenshin or a spin-off with Saito Hajime. Non the less, we got another great samurai film that's stylish and entertaining.

Another well-shot action movie and the fourth in the series. The plotting was never a strong point in these movies and so it proves here, as it's largely join-the-dots style with yet another face from the past coming back to haunt the present. As an excuse for lavish large-scale mayhem it works a treat, and this might just be the most action-packed RUROUNI yet; the whole of the last hour seems to be one prolonged duel after another. Definitely my joint favourite of the series after the second.