Ran (1985)
乱
In a mad world, only the mad are sane.
Keywords
Ran rating: IMDb, Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic
IMDb8.2/10· 151K votes
Rotten Tomatoes96%
Metacritic97%
TMDb8/10· 2K votesWith 96% on Rotten Tomatoes, backed by 8.2/10 on IMDb and 97/100 on Metacritic, critical reception of this film has been very positive.
About Ran
Shakespeare's King Lear is reimagined as a singular historical epic set in sixteenth-century Japan where an aging warlord divides his kingdom between his three sons.
Cast of Ran
Tatsuya Nakadai
as Lord Hidetora Ichimonji
Akira Terao
as Taro Takatora Ichimonji
Jinpachi Nezu
as Jiro Masatora Ichimonji
Daisuke Ryū
as Saburo Naotora Ichimonji
Mieko Harada
as Lady Kaede
Yoshiko Miyazaki
as Lady Sue
Mansai Nomura
as Tsurumaru
Hisashi Igawa
as Shuri Kurogane
Shinnosuke Ikehata
as Kyoami
Masayuki Yui
as Tango Hirayama
Kazuo Katō
as Kageyu Ikoma
- N
Norio Matsui
as Shumenosuke Ogura
Ran facts
- Original title
- 乱
- Budget
- $12M
- Box office
- $23.3M
Our take on Ran
Kurosawa's 1985 epic reimagines Shakespeare's King Lear in sixteenth-century Japan, as an aging warlord divides his realm among three sons and reaps catastrophe. Staged with painterly colour and vast, anguished battle, it's a thunderous meditation on pride, betrayal and a world descending into chaos. If its tragic grandeur gripped you, The Last Samurai and Gladiator share its sweeping scale and its fall-of-a-great-man tragedy.
Ranked by the iRankMovies editorial teamUpdated August 2026MethodologyData sources
Audience opinions
What the audience liked
- •Akira Kurosawa depicts feudal Japan warfare with dramatic action and visual grandeur
- •Descent into madness unfolds through ambitious castle and assassination plotlines
- •Masterful choreography transforms tragedy into operatic theatrical experience
What the audience disliked
- •Lengthy runtime and deliberate pacing challenge contemporary attention spans
- •Black widow character arc feels underdeveloped relative to male-centered narrative
Trailer
Where to watch Ran(US)
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