Review of 'Golden Kamuy'

Japanese soldier Saichi Sugimoto (Kento Yamazaki) fought in Russo-Japanese War of 1904 at 203 Meter Hill, China where there was mass slaughter on both sides. He is reputed to be immortal as he appears to have survived so many harrowing situations. He learns of the local Ainu tribe secretly collecting massive quantities of gold to protect their sacred land. The gold was stollen by the crazy Noppera-Bo who hid it somewhere in Hokkaido. When captured and sent to prison Noppera-Bo tattooed several prisoners with a pattern that, together, is said to reveal the location of the gold. Despite being sceptical of the story Sugimoto he finds the dead body of one of the prisoners, Takechiyo Goto (Makita Sports), who has the tattoos on his body. The bear that killed the convict attacks Sugimoto but he is saved by an Ainu, named Aspira (Anna Yamada) who has a Wolf friend called Retar. As they travel, they encounter more convicts, piecing together the tattoos…but they are not the only ones searching out the gold.

Based on a television series of the same name, do not expect to have a nice, tidy ending as this is intended to be the first in a series of films. The acting was OK, if slightly one dimensional, with characters that are slightly interesting though with little in the way of emotions other than anger and happiness, more interested in fighting and action. Obviously the main focus here is on the two central characters Sugimoto and Aspira but by the end of the film we still know very little of them though we glimpse a bit more of the former's past with a flashback to the battle of 203 Meter Hill where one of his childhood friends was killed.

The film looks pretty good though it obviously had a fairly small budget feeling a more like an over-long television episode than a feature film. Some of the sets look quite good as well particularly the Ainu village. It is nice to see a film set largely in the woods of rural Hokkaido in the winter - the scenery looks amazing. There seems to be a fascination with bears with most of the action featuring their brutal, bloody attacks and their equally violent deaths. There seem to be a lot of them around and they seem very determined to attack humans all the time…

Quite slow paced and not terribly interesting. Some good action sequences and the VERY occasional attempt at humour but otherwise, not all that good.

Rating: “A bit better than average”

Review Date: 2026-02-21

Directed by: Shigeaki Kubo

Studio: Credeus

Year: 2024

Length: 127 minutes

Genre: Action/Adventure

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt19759618/