andressolf I saw this movie when IFC was giving a Japanese movie nearly every day or every weekend. In the last 9 years of my life I believe it is safe to say that i have watched more Japanese cinema than I have given attention to any other kind and it was in this period that I watched Sword of Doom that I watched the most Japanese films out of my entire life.I watched this movie again last night (possibly 6 years after I originally saw it)and I did so by accident. First off, I did not remember that THIS movie was called Sword of Doom- that is how I ended up watching it a 2nd time by accident. When a movie is so bad that I don't even remember it's title- that is bad.So far I have only given you my opinion. Let me give the only 'fact' I can give about this movie- and why I hate it. It is SLOW. VERY slow. I watched the movie for 20-30 minutes of 2x speed last night and it was STILL too slow- I kid you not. Sometimes I fast forwarded it by 4x speed and higher and it was still very tedious to watch- I am not this way with any other movies. I treated this movie differently than I have treated others because of how slow it is.The good thing about this movie: The main antagonist which appears to be a emotionless snake of a man. A 'badass' if you will- the guy who goes around killing innocent people and not showing a shed of remorse- his character is cool to look at. I am aware that some anime and maybe even some other movies have attempted to make a character just like him and this actor that pulls off this persona (although it may not be highly original) does a VERY good job at it. In other words the main bad guy is an interesting one- but after about 20 minutes his character gets old and I am tired of seeing his emotionless silent self. I want to see him get angry but he never does. I want to see him interested in SOMETHING but he never shows interest in much of anything. It's as if he is a walking ghost. Which as I tried to say is cool at first, but gets old after a while.The bad about this movie is nearly everything else. The pace and the dialogue is beyond boring for me to sit through and I cannot justify doing it because I see no reward in me sitting around for the end. I can't imagine an ending for this movie that is not predictable and therefore there is not enough suspense in it for me to enjoy or to even recommend for someone else to enjoy. Anyone smart and who knows the value of their time and how to manage their life well will not sit through this garbage. There are so many better videos to watch out there. Even real fencing videos as opposed to this. Or anime with other badass main villains and a more interesting suspenseful action-packed story. Sword of the Stranger for example...Check it out.

glock38_110 Here, in one of Nakadai's best performances, he plays a young, seemingly evil Samurai who lives by his own moral code. He ruthlessly slays anyone who he thinks should die, and it's hard to say whether his killings are unjust or deserved, even though his actions might seem despicable at first. For example, in the beginning of the film, he encounters an ageing pilgrim praying for a quick death. Upon hearing this, Nadakai's character kills him in one swift move. This scene sets the tone for the rest of the movie. Nakadai's fighting style echo's his attitude to an extent, it's an ultra defensive style in which he never strikes the first blow. In an iconic scene later on in the film, Mifune's older and wiser samurai tells Nakadai, "The sword is the soul. Study the soul to know the sword. Evil mind, evil sword." In Japanese culture, the sword and style of a samurai could be seen as a window to his soul and "Sword of Doom" beautifully yet brutally echoes this sentiment. In the penultimate scene of the film, Nakadai's samurai is haunted by his past actions and starts to hallucinate, he is clearly a broken man and regrets some of his actions. The ending of the film is surely a controversial one but I personally loved it. Nothing is resolved, apparently there were sequels planned but they never came to light for one reason or another. Nevertheless, it didn't take away anything from the film and for me it actually added to the mystique and moral ambiguity of Nakadai's character. Impeccably shot and beautifully choreographed, the film is a feast for the eyes. Nakadai's performance as a self destructive samurai was highly intense and full of emotion, his shift in character alone was astonishing and really displayed Nakadai's talent as a versatile actor. Mifune is also in the film and has his fair share of excellent scenes and lines. In summary, an excellent film that I'd recommend to anyone with a remote interest in Samurai movies.

Prof-Hieronymos-Grost In feudal Japan,Ryunosuke (Tatsuya Nakadai)is a disgraced samurai and master swordsman with a very special technique, is due to have a challenge duel at his fencing school, his challenger Bunnojo Utsuki is to become a new sword master at the fencing school, but if he loses, he will be disgraced and unable to take his position. Bunnojo's wife Ohama pleads with Ryunosuke to throw the match, offering her virtue in return, which he accepts, despite this he still kills her husband after he makes an illegal fencing move, in a fit of anger after learning of his wife's infidelities. Some years later Ryunosuke has now taken Ohama as his woman, he's becoming ever more deranged and randomly kills people for no reason other than he likes it. Nothing seems to content Ryunosuke, not even his newly born son, "I trust only my sword in this world. When I fight, I have no family" says the cool killer to his new spouse after she pleads with him to give up his killing ways, he seems like a lost soul just searching for a cause to fight for or waiting for his own death, but unable to find an opponent capable of fulfilling his wish. He tries to challenge another master swordsman Shimada (Toshiro Mifune) but all he succeeds in doing is denting his own confidence after Shimada disposes of dozens of Ryonosuke's henchmen and leaves him with a few words that hurt more than any sword, "The sword is the soul. Study the soul to know the sword. Evil mind, evil sword" Sword of doom is full of many side plots, very few of which are fully explained, but its an epic beautifully filmed tale of an antihero, that despite his bad character traits, that should have the viewer loathing him, yet he still retains somewhat of a hero status with the viewer, due mainly to the fantastic, intense performance by Nakadai which is exemplified perfectly in the memorable grand finale, which sees his character battle it out in a burning building with the spirits of all those he has killed in his lifetime. Again Wonderful.

ithearod I won't go on at length about the film, because others have already done so, and well enough.I will add my opinion about the ending, though.Let me begin by saying that I understand the film was intended to be the first part of a trilogy, and so the unresolved ending could easily be attributed to a "cliffhanger" ending that might be resolved in a second film; however, we don't get the rest of that trilogy, so we must contend with the film as a complete work of art.With that in mind, I propose that the unresolved ending of the film - the sudden, freeze-frame ending, still within the throes of an unfinished combat - is meant to suggest this: :::Ryunosuke has actually died at some unknown point during the final sword battle; what we are in the process of observing, then, is Ryunosuke in his own real and private Hell, an afterlife of endless opponents, brutal killings, and constant injuries to his own body, none enough to kill him, but enough to cause him pain and torment:::The reasons I see to accept this idea are several: 1) The inn is now on fire; fire is an easy metaphor for Hell (certainly for Western audiences, but possibly for Eastern ones as well). As to that fire, no one is responding to it directly, as people would tend to do if a well-populated inn was burning. There is no sound or image of commotion, shouts, running for exits, etc., as we usually see during burning-building scenes, even when there is a battle going on. 2) The scene immediately before the final battle is focused on ghosts and hauntings - it begins with Omatsu telling the tale of the courtesan who killed herself in the now-unused room, and quickly proceeds to multiple images of Ryunosuke fighting the ghosts of his own victims.3) The room that Ryunosuke is in, and proceeds to tear apart before the attack of the samurai, becomes almost supernatural - the curtain walls he cuts through are endless, repeating, circling back upon themselves - he cannot escape this room, even by cutting his way through and out. Then, the rooms of the inn he fights his way through become endless, maze-like, and repetitive, with no occupants except the endlessly attacking samurai.4) The final freeze-frame suggests to the audience that there is no logical ending to this scene; indeed, it never ends.So there you have my interpretation of the ending of "Sword of Doom". If you like it and ever quote it, please give me, and this review, the credit!