Movie review - "The Hidden Fortress" (1958) *** 1/2

Famous Akira Kurosawa film that is best known today for being the inspiration of Star Wars. It is about two cowardly peasants who come across a general (Toshiro Mifune) escorting a princess through enemy territory to safety. George Lucas says in an interview on the DVD that he was interested in telling an adventure story from two lowly characters - hence R2D2 and C3PO. However, there is no Luke or Han Solo type - the general is one of those taciturn Japanese superheroes. It was an entertaining film, with some spectacular visual imagery that you get from Kurosawa. It goes for over two hours - a great deal of time is spent setting up the two heroes. The journey with the princess doesn't start until around an hour into the film.