Kingdom 3: Flame of Destiny (2023)

A continuation of the series

I'll be honest, the beginning was not as riveting as the previous two, it took me a few days to get through 40-50mn, but once the action started it was sustained mostly to the end. Continuing honestly, I started watching these for Yamazaki Kento (a Naruto-like character) and the action scenes.

The action is good, choreography of fights is cool but... this movie especially (iirc), less believable than previous ones? It's not MCTNA quality, let's say, barely killing enemies as they go, I sincerely doubt enemies would attempt to tackle someone rather than lead with their swords but, characters must survive, I get it.

The cinematography is good, the costumes too (armors excepted, they do have that fake/cheap look but alas).

The acting is as good as it always is, in a... very Japanese fashion (no duh, yes), the dialogue is, well, also simplistic.

I haven't read the original (book? manga?) the live action is based on and can't judge the accuracy of the plot, just that it's simplified for the 2hr format (probably). As seems to be the trend in Japanese productions, women are scarce with a similar amount of lines (we met a new one but naturally died for the cause), there was a lot of backstory I'm not entirely sure was necessary in the way it was done, though we get to understand Eisei's motivations, we don't spend a lot of time developing other characters. Kyokai continues to be awesome, sadly never enough screen time for her skills hahaha, I loved her and Shin sparring. And once again I wonder why Karyoten is still here, probably so they have an excuse to explain strategies to the audience (but does she *really* still need that costume!? Ahem). Shin's on his way to fulfilling his dream(s)? If Hoken doesn't kill him first, lol (he won't, yes yes).

I did not expect OGURI SHUN to show up but omg, HELLO! More please!

tl;dr, it's a pretty fun watch that continues the series, if you watch just for the action you're likely to skip halfway through. Solid production overall, though if I were to rewatch anything of the series it'd be the action (or Shin's good looking face).

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