The Sword of Doom

The Sword of Doom is a 1966 Japanese martial arts film about an amoral swordsman and the effect his actions have. I usually like this genre. I am not especially fond of this one, but the ending fight scene is well worth watching no matter how you feel about the rest of the film. Totally insane! And you can never go wrong watching a movie with Toshiro Mifune in it. I just had some difficulty keeping the plot and characters straight.

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Toho Kingdom calls it "an excellent, very dark, film" and "one of the better movies out there, regardless of nationality" and says,

Sword of Doom really excels in a number of areas, including a well woven story, interesting character development, excellent acting which is complimented by equally impressive cinematography, and topped off by Masaru Sato's interesting score for the film.

Japan Cinema says, "It’s plot will easily slip past inattentive viewers, so prepare to be tested." DVD Talk rates it "excellent". Slant Magazine concludes, "The Sword of Doom proves itself a film defined by its meticulously precise construction." Time Out calls the climax "astonishing". Rotten Tomatoes has a critics score of 71% and an audience score of 89%.