I do count myself as a fan of King Lear , and I do count myself as a fan of Akira Kurosawa, but I don’t count myself as a fan of Ran. I’m not sure if I dislike Ran in spite of my Shakespeare/Kurosawa fandom or because of it.
Given that the movie is a Lear adaptation, it’s a problem that it waters down the Lear plot by eliminating the Gloucester/Edmund/Edgar subplot, and it’s a problem that we don’t get to enjoy anything like Shakespearean language.
The movie has its strong points, of course. One of the early samurai battle sequences is a triumph of sound editing. The quick switch from music to the sounds of battle startles like a blow. Other scenes have their virtues, too: the sequences of the ailing old lord picking flowers, and of the fool making him a headdress of the flowers, are inspired dramatizations. Some of the samurai warfare at the end of the movie is beautifully photographed. The scene of the unveiling of what is supposed to be a queen’s severed head is perfectly done, and is the moment that sticks out as probably the best of Kurosawa’s many departures from Shakespeare.