#samurai-western

#samurai-western

Val Kilmer was cast in 'As Deep As the Grave' before his death, with an AI voice created from his old recordings and a visual deepfake developed in collaboration with his estate.

The show, simply titled " Samurai," dives into the myth of the samurai and how it came to be, to teach viewers how this fierce warrior class emerged during the early medieval period in the 1100s and evolved over the next few centuries to become an elite class of bureaucrats. The exhibition also examines portrayals of samurai in modern-day popular culture, and how that compares to reality. Yes, the samurai started out as fierce fighters, but their identity is much more complex than that.

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

There are multiple clashes between our main characters, most notably Jen battling Shu Lien, and a famous sequence where Mu Bai pursues Jen across the treetops of a bamboo forest, deftly balancing on the swaying branches and easily evading Jen's increasingly undisciplined sword thrusts. It's truly impressive wire work (all the actors performed their own stunts), in fine wuxia tradition.

It's a simple but effective premise: Your hero dies. He awakens, only to relive his last day. He dies again. Over and over, this cycle happens until our hero has conquered the time-loop he's stuck in, having become stronger, faster, and wiser in the thousands of times that he's been resurrected. It's the video game conceit, as a thrilling alien invasion story.