A Espada da Maldição

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.

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.

Sword of doom is a truly great and original piece of film-making. As soon as the film had started, and the dark and eerie soundtrack kicked in, I knew I was about to enjoy a gem of japanese cinema. The most original element of the film is that the main character Ryunosuke is a real mean, killing machine, seriously, he is the lead in the film, but whereas in any other samurai/martial arts film he would normally turn up for a few scenes of mayhem, then turn up at the very end for a much deserved death. Well in this film the villain is the lead, Ryunosuke is such an interesting character, that days after watching this film you will find yourself thinking I wonder if... or what if that had happened. Sword of doom is one of those movies that just sticks in your head days after viewing time has ended. It doesn't even matter that the ending comes quite abruptly, that just let's the viewer imagine their own conclusion to the film. Sword of doom is without doubt the darkest and the most mysterious martial arts/samurai film that i've ever had the pleasure of viewing. The action scenes in the film are first rate too, with very believable sword duels. I put this film right up there with the very best that eastern cinema has to offer. 10/10

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?

The villain of this piece is one of the most memorable in Japanese, maybe even film, history. His crazed looks and more than that his oddness, seem just right for a killer, it's more the look of a dangerous unpredictable animal than a human being.

Much of what's said by others about this movie is true, but I'm writing to give you a few very minor tips that I think will enhance the movie. I'm not really giving anything away, but just to set your perceptions.

First Tishiro Mifune has what amounts to a very small part, he's an important part but does not star in the film by any stretch. Also the plot it somewhat confused upon first viewing. The final sword fight is very very good and bloody but....

The problem with the ending is that it doesn't resolve a major subplot. Kinda I suppose like a Cohen brothers movie it sets up stuff that it has no interest, I guess, in dealing with in conventional ways, but in this case as in the case of the rare "lesser" Cohen Brothers movies this time it does hurt the film.

Still memorable, villain saves the day, both in performance and direction. Too bad they didn't quite keep it all together plot wise and ending wise.