gavin6942 Through his unconscionable actions against others, a sociopath samurai builds a trail of vendettas that follow him closely.This film embraces the anti-hero sentiment of the 1960s, as seen in spaghetti westerns and the like. This is violence to a new degree, and a hero we really do not want to stand behind, but cannot help but watch his exploits. This is stylized violence, a kind that was very influential. Notably on Sam Peckinpah, but obviously on future generations such as Quentin Tarantino, as well.Placing this in the context of the samurai film is not something i am qualified to do. However, of those I have seen, I can certainly say this had far more action and much less ritual than what is often seen (such as in the films of Kurosawa).

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.

dennis-karjala I like the interpretation of Ithearod (Nov. 7, 2007) of the ending - Ryunosuke is already dead and in a Dantean circle of never ending fighting and pain - but unless I missed something there is another hole in the chronology. Ryunosuke has a date to meet Hyoma in a duel in the morning, but after he kills his common-law wife (the actual wife of his earlier victim), the scene suddenly shifts to Kyoto, to which Ryunosuke has repaired with the gang of murderers he has joined. It's only in Kyoto, and indeed at the brothel where Ryunosuke meets Omatsu, that his madness reaches its climax. Up to that point, he is largely in control of what he does. So, why did he not meet Hyoma in the duel?

maddox-richard For various reasons, some movies are immediately pleasing while others take their time to grab you (or perhaps you take your time to become receptive to their charms). Occasionally a film combines the two effects and Sword of Doom is one of these: It has this quality of being immediately entertaining and yet it retains or withholds so much detail that you need to watch several times to comprehend every nuance.It's not that it works "on many levels", though you could approach it that way. Rather, Sword Of Doom simply has lots of unexplained back story, some of it historical, and the back story is so interesting that, if you wish, your enjoyment can be as much about understanding the back story as it is about the film and the performances.It's an adult approach to entertainment: A complicated narrative made simple and entertaining by leaving a lot of detail to your imagination or further research.I've watched it a few times now and am looking forward to watching it a lot more. Each time I do so I'll probably check a few IMDb postings and wikipedia pages to get a new angle on the film and to learn a bit more detail on the period. As a first time watch I probably rated it 8 or 9/10 but as I keep watching it it makes a 10.