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37 out of 37 people found the following comment useful :-
Extraordinary swordsman walks path of self destruction, 4 May 2000
Author: tais0 from USA

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

As an afficionado of samurai films, I have to admit that Sword Of Doom stands out as an oddity amongst my modest collection because of its progressively stylish presentation (a 'cool' samurai flick if I ever saw one) and its unusual ending. Much has been made (by those I know who have seen this film) about the abrupt, violent climax that for spoiler reasons will not be elaborated upon in any further detail. But to truly understand why this film ends the way it does, one must go all the way back to the beginning and realize with completeness the destructive path Ryunosuke (played superlatively by Tatsuya Nakadai) takes throughout the film. At the beginning, Nakadai finds an old man praying to die so that he won't be a burden on his granddaughter anymore. As if Nakadai were the deliverer of that prayer's intent, he strikes the man down for no good reason other than it was asked. This sets off a chain of events that revolve around the granddaughter and the choices people make because of her. And her story isn't the only one Nakadai affects in the movie. If nothing else, Sword Of Doom espouses the notion of karma at length, and effectively at that.

The movie carries a philosophy that if a man's sword is violent, then it is because the man is violent or will become violent because of it. This idea implies that a bond between a samurai and his sword is an evolving, mutually effecting affair. We see many times throughout the movie how Ryunosuke uses his strength to survive. As the story progresses, we come to realize that the man only knows one way, the way of the sword, because it has ever been all he has needed to get by. He's never bothered to learn compassion since he's never had a use for it.

There's a romantic sympathy for this destroyer, this slayer of men. We see that he is listless and morose and truly wants a cause, any cause, to fight for and believe in. But because he kills anything in the way of what he wants, he inevitably destroys the object of his desire in one way or another. And Nakadai emotes this tragic quality with the greatest skill, makes you care about him even though you'd probably hate him if you knew him. You can see that he is a strong man, determined to live and die by by his skill. Life is there for him to take, if it suits his needs. As Ryunosuke descends into madness, his psyche haunted by his own cruel actions, we see the intensity of his plight in Nakadai's expressiveness. Without having to say anything, we know that the character is falling prey to his own crimes and that the pressure is building within his soul. Ryunosuke keeps the guilt inside him, lets it swell, until the end of the film when it becomes too much for even his intensity to contain any longer. Then he becomes a storm of chaos and violence.

The premise of karma is, in the most plebian of terms, 'you get what you deserve'. There's more to it than that, but in this film Ryunosuke suffers in many ways because of who he is and the choices he's made. In one scene that subtly ratifies this point, he visits the school run by Toshiro Mifune, who in this role plays a wise teacher of fencing, and asks to have a duel with him. Nakadai instead ends up fighting Mifune's top student, and defeats him in front of all to see. It is obvious to Mifune the cruel intent in Nakadai's technique, and because of this decides not to fight him. He knows no good can come of a duel between the two. For Mifune, it's simply a wise decision to avoid the conflict for a number of basic reasons. But for Nakadai it's a reflection of his karma: to unwittingly destroy his own ambitions, which in this case is a fight with Mifune to prove who's better.

The disappointments all add up for Nakadai's Ryunosuke, and he responds to it by continuing on in his chosen path with a sullen, steely gaze. Sword of doom, indeed. Doom for all others around him but even more so for himself. Although he brings suffering to others in the hopes of attaining his ambitions, he is denied the one thing, due to his skill and mindset, that would probably be best for him: his own destruction. Nakadai plays the character as knowing deep down in his heart that he is the cause of his own suffering, but refuses to fully accept it. Furthermore, he seems to be hanging on to the notion that redemption is around the corner. If he can just find himself a cause to live for, every crime will be erased and he will have proven to everyone that his methods, in fact, led him to his destiny. This is all the more ironic considering his mistress and their illegitimate child live with him, and that he could at any time find a cause in devoting his life to them.

But that would require he surrender his blade, and he can't do that because that would be admitting failure. And it's so obvious that Ryunosuke wants to be right about his choices. He needs so much to be justified that he continues on this path, regardless of what may come of it, for self vindication's sake. The ultimate culmination of this, without revealing too much of the ending, is that he finally DOES get what he needs in the end, although not how you'd expect.

Sword Of Doom is a success in every area it endeavors. The acting is powerful, the story is moving, and the action is intense and masterfully portrayed. And while I won't call the film 'perfect', it's pretty close.

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35 out of 43 people found the following comment useful :-
A pure action movie, 4 February 2002
10/10
Author: Alcibiade del Mezzogiorno (alberich68@hotmail.com)

Imagine your favorite action movie, then take out all the cheesy one-liners ("Asta la vista, baby!"), the irritating sidekick, the love interest, the techno-porn, and the off-handed moralistic ending. Then add a Commando-league body count, incredible swordplay, and great photography, and you've got Sword of Doom. This is a wrenching, visceral drama about an antagonist armed not with a stolen nuclear device, but with the best sword-fighting skills in Japan and a psychopath's indifference to human life. Unlike other more recent movies that try to portray the same raw, killing-machine kind of character, Sword of Doom does not resort to grimy photography or an adolescent delight in visual assault. Instead you get pure, distilled, ultra-kinetic fighting suffused with a thrilling coldness.

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22 out of 25 people found the following comment useful :-
A favorite of mine, 25 July 2005
10/10
Author: zetes from Saint Paul, MN

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

It's not especially deep, but it's a dark and disturbing chambara about a merciless samurai, Ryunosuke (Tatsuya Nakadai), who can – and will, without hesitation – kill anybody who challenges him with a sword. He sees himself as a force of karmic balance. The film starts off with him disposing of an old man praying for death. The film is based on a newspaper serial that began in the 1910s and continued for several decades. The story never really ended, and, likewise, the film, which only covers certain bits of the novel, has no resolution. This has often bothered people, but I think it works well. Whatever the case, even if the film doesn't satisfy you as a whole, there are a number of outstanding setpieces. Nakadai's being ambushed in the forest near the beginning. The battle in the snow, where Toshiro Mifune dispatches of a dozen or more attackers while Nakadai watches cautiously from the sidelines. And that final sequence is the mother of all rampages, where Nakadai goes apesh*t in a brothel. Tatsuya Nakadai is really a fantastic actor. I know, his performance here isn't particularly complex, but he is absolutely frightening in his infinite evil. Compare this to his overwhelming humanity in The Human Condition. Okamoto's direction is assured, and Hiroshi Murai provides some of the best black & white photography ever captured. The new Criterion disc is quite good. It is without extras, but the accompanying essay is a big help at putting the film and its source material in context.

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17 out of 22 people found the following comment useful :-
One of the best movies ever in my opinion, 1 August 2002
10/10
Author: xphyxia from America

It captures the feel of Feudal Japan very well. Samurai of that period were so involved with their sword style and technique that it seeped into there personality and very soul. Most upheld strict conduct in their technique. This story is about a man whose style is so devious and frankly brutal that it turns him into a mirror image of his technique. Think Lord of the Rings and Frodo's battle with the ring or Star Wars and the battle betweeen Light and Dark forces. It is much better than Star Wars and is just as deep and creepy as Lord of the Rings. Nakadai' acting is flawless and he draws you right into the story. Toshiro Mifune also has a few good parts and a great battle scene. I have let many friends watch this movie (almost none of which had ever watched a subtitled movie) and every one of them Loved it. It's also one of those movies that draws you you in even more with repeated viewings, as you catch a lot of little things that are integral with the story. BUY IT and watch repeatedly!

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22 out of 32 people found the following comment useful :-
From a woman's point of view..., 24 July 2001
10/10
Author: tnamwong from Los Angeles

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

This movie is intricately directed down to the sigh of a breath from the character which can be easily labelled as "evil" and "insane" (which so you know occurs at the referee's announcement of "DRAW" at the end of the Mt. Mitake duel). Was Ryunosuke evil to begin with? Or was he born without a conscience? And did the characters around him play any role in his misery? Compare the antihero to other characters such as the man who sold Omatsu (a girl) to a brothel. His actions spring from impulse and what seems to me to be boredom. In any case this movie should not be labelled as just an action flick because I thoroughly enjoyed it even though I'm not crazy about sword films. Don't be fooled by careless reviewers, the ending made perfect sense because the film is not a story of revenge, romance or insanity its much more and it resists any attempt for us to label it. If Ryunosuke was killed in the duel with Homa (unlikely) then you can say the movie was about revenge. If Ryunosuke was killed by the fencing teacher (played by Mifune) you can say the movie is about good vs. evil...and so on but it doesn't end that way. Sword of Doom aka The Great Buddha Pass (a more appropriate name) is a masterpiece.

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11 out of 13 people found the following comment useful :-
Unusually Violent for 1966, 23 February 2001
Author: marquis de cinema from Boston, MA

Three years before The Wild Bunch(1969) and the same year as Django(1966) came a film called Dai-Bosatsu Toge/Sword of Doom(1966) which was one of first body count action dramas in 1966. Not only a terrific samurai film but also a terrifing portrait of a samurai warrior who's on the brink of madness. Tatsuya Nakadai gives one of his best performances that is surpassed only by his excellent performances in the following Kurosawa films, Kagemusha(1980) and Ran(1984). Sword of Doom(1966) contains elements that reminds me of Henry:Portrait of a Serial Killer(1986) because Ryunosuke also kills at random and is a very scary person. Toshiro Mifune is magnificent in his role as the wise samurai teacher, Shimada. The high body count ending would influences people like Sam Peckinpah and John Woo as well as the Lone Wolf and Cub films. Dai-Bosatsu Toge is about a lone samurai warrior who is unable to live outside of his sword. The cinematography is great and the story is very interesting. The film has some scenes of graphic violence that must have shocked Japanese audiences back in 1966. The film ends on an amazing body count blood bath battle that is ahead of its time. One of the most underrated Samurai pics of all time.

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17 out of 26 people found the following comment useful :-
Powerful, Disturbing, Confusing, 15 December 2002
Author: lndc98 from San Francisco, California

There is, of course, no question that the protagonist here is the handsome and insane Ryunosuke. And I can see that his insanity, alienation, and disassociation all come together in a climax of hallucination and compulsion. But there are things that I do not see. First, why is he insane? That is, what is his origin and the origin of his evil style of sword play? Second, why is there at least one very absorbing subplot which is developed and then dropped? I mean the romance between the "grand daughter" and Mifune's chief student and the tension regarding their welfare that builds up because of the plan of revenge? Is there some overriding master plan here; or some historical, cultural, etc. concept that I am missing?

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7 out of 7 people found the following comment useful :-
Awesome swordplay. Intense drama., 19 February 1999
10/10
Author: anonymous from San Jose, California

Imagine Nakadai's murderous Onosuke from Yojimbo; then raise the level of his single-minded purpose an order of magnitude to the fated dancer of The Red Shoes and you get a vague idea of Ryunosuke, a psychopathic samuari hunted by the righteous and villainous alike. Hiroshi Murai's gritty B& W photography is awesome; and the choreography and staging of the swordfighting sequences are far and away the most rivetting I've ever seen (and I think I've seen most of them) -- not romantically stylized as in Inagaki's Samurai Trilogy -- something like the subtlety of Kurosawa meets the textured action of John Woo. The characters are intense and memorable. The final freeze frame may put you in mind of Butch Cassidy. You'll never forget it.

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6 out of 6 people found the following comment useful :-
You might even call him evil., 2 September 2005
7/10
Author: Golgo-13 from The IMDb Horror Board!

A classic Samurai picture that is as confusing as it is violent. Ryunosuke Tsukue is the main character, a Samurai with a dark and merciless nature. You might even call him evil. The path he takes (with multiple subplots that don't always seem to be resolved) leads him to madness. The confusing aspects may be due to the fact that there were supposed to be sequels, as well as the fact that the story was a famous one in Japan and hence, certain parts were to be assumed by that audience. Nonetheless, it was still a fairly compelling watch, especially with the action, a precursor to the violence in such films as the excellent Lone Wolf and Cub series. Hands and fingers are cut off, blood is shed, and the climatic ending features a body count along the lines of The House of Blue Leaves!

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7 out of 8 people found the following comment useful :-
Okamoto's master stroke, 26 July 2002
10/10
Author: Zatoichi Zen from Yorba Linda, USA

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

Yes, this is a remake of Kenji Misumi's three part Daibosatsu tôge (1959).

But I doubt that Kihachi Okamoto intended to include all of the story in Misumi's version. And thus he chose to end it with a brilliant device, the freeze frame.

The abrupt ending is a masterful sword stroke from Okamoto because it brings a literal and figurative end to our movie's protagonist. Literally, because we know that Ryunosuke has met his end, and is about to be killed by attacking foes or the burning building. He doesn't need to show us what happens because we already know. And figuratively because it brings an immediate stop in movement, paralleling the abrupt ending of Ryunosuke's life.

But curiously it also immortalizes Ryunosuke, freezing him in time for all times. Why? Okamoto has shown that Ryunosuke deeds in life has caught up with him and he has gone insane, perhaps to escape the consequences. On a spiritual level, his psychopathic mind can live on, but only in it's insane state and not in the real world. In simple terms, the insane world and not the sane world is what's available to Ryunosuke.

Years later George Roy Hill would use this same device for the ending of Butch Cassidy and Sundance Kid, but without Okamoto's haunting and staggering effect.

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