Unforgiven review

A Japanese remake of Clint Eastwood’s multi-Oscar winner?

Not as redundant as it sounds: Japan’s samurai movies have long mined one another for atmosphere and backdrops.

This preserves the 1880s time period, plot and much of the same dialogue – though boots the action across the Pacific, where Ken Watanabe’s assassin is dragged out of retirement to become a bounty hunter.

Retaining the original’s viciousness, it’s a perfectly acceptable rejig – if somewhat lacking the tragic heft and tortured gravitas of Clint’s dark revisionist masterpiece.