The resolution of the storyline is the kicker in this one - but this is a film that relishes in red herrings and, to a greater degree, pulling out the tatami mat from under our feet. That it jettisons 4 or 5 supporting characters to underscore the thin line between madness and evil is to me one of the film's strongest assets. Nakadai never hurts, either.

This is no match. It's a duel!

A rare psychological study disguised as a samurai movie. Nakadai gives one the most passionate performances I've ever seen. His character possibly suffers from paranoid schizophrenia.

Early-cut?

Pretty damn awesome.

Absolutely astonishing cinematography and pacing, I don't care if the movie was supposed to have a sequel or not.. as it stands its a masterpiece. Ryunosuke is an unapologetic psycho samurai gone mad, and the viewer will spiral into madness with him.. masterful.

Ryunosuke is the most amoral of all screen samurai. Devastating emotional power.

This guy makes Jack Torrence look like a pussy. Too bad they never made the sequels because this has some amazing scenes centered around an equally amazing performance.

Really thought Tatsuya Nakadai did an excellent job as Ryunosuke Tsukue, been quite some time since I've seen a 'bad guy' done so well. Sadly, I can't say the same about the story. Felt incomplete and many not in place cuts to the film.

I'll be honest. There are moments of total badassery and stunning cinematography. The descent into madness, if you can call it that, is pretty facinating. Scene to scene, moment to moment, the film is very good. But on a basic level I found the plot hard to follow. Especially the second and third acts. It got to the point where there were fight scenes and I couldn't figure out why. But don't get me wrong. The movie is still good, and there are enough great scenes to make it worthwhile.

Very much a villain-centric story, and Nakadai's mad swordsman is compelling and fascinating. My only complaint is that it could stand to be chopped (ha) down a bit.

Unrelenting violence matched with wonderful cinematography make this truly something to behold for samurai fans. Nakadai's performance as Ryunosuke is perhaps one of the most evil in cinema.

The story is lacking, with too many valleys where nothing much seems to happen. Occasionally too complicated to follow, though it all makes sense by the ending... which is a rather unsatisfying cliffhanger for future installments that were never to arrive. There are three scenes of a single person taking on a multitude of enemies and all of them are frankly dull. But there's some marvelous cinematography here, the acting is solid, and the score is nice.

Pretty much the most badass samurai flick ever made.

The plot is absurdly convoluted and bloated; if this film had focus, it could have been half an hour shorter and much better for it. And there's so much talking and talking and no release. I appreciate the main strand enough to like this, though, and there's plenty to praise: the excellent cinematography, some great swordfights, and Nakadai, who I always love. Worth a look, but a bit difficult to get through.

Silly and inspired, often (e.g. the finale) at the same time. The focus on the villain is inspired, as he is the most interesting character. Nakadai portrays him with iconic venom and is almost unrecognizable from his goody-two-shoes past as Kaji in Kobayashi's Human Condition. Much of the script, however, is pretty dumb, features the most misogynistic female character at least since Rashomon, and a hoard of inexplicably suicidal male ones. Masterful directing and cinematography keep it afloat.

As a lover of all things Samurai, I'd like to give this a higher grade, but I simply cannot. The last fifteen minutes or so are fantastic, until you realize that they are exactly the last fifteen minutes or so, leaving a ton of plot threads hanging and giving no satisfaction to either good or evil. Still, a very powerful and frequently entertaining movie, just not one I would make a purchase of.

Could perhaps have done without the storyline involving the girl Omatsu, but this is otherwise a bleak and nihilistic (which almost always equals good) movie with a chilling performance by Nakadai. A film that doesn't end, but terminates.

Enjoyable and well shot, though it doesn't always work. My biggest problem with it is that, while the main story is easy enough to follow, there are a lot of supporting characters in the film whose roles are very difficult to sort out. Everything jumps around a bit too much and it makes it hard to really hang on to any character or story arc other than Ryunosuke, and his motivations are diminished when you have to work to remember who he's interacting with. The fight scenes are great, if long th

The good mostly outdoes the bad here. I really feel the key problem with this movie is lead characters are under developed and the supporting characters are over developed. Nakadai is a God tier actor but he does not top surpass his role as Unosuke and his counterpart Mifune does not have as strong a written role to play as he did in Yojimbo. The ending is suitable but leaves a lot to be desired.

legit cast and some cool scenarios loosely strung together into some sort of a movie...

The best samurai movie i've ever seen. Engaging, thoughtful, violent, great looking.

The plot is a bit contrived, and the end (while an absolutely awesome, memorable sequence in and of itself) leaves zero closure. I'm aware this was intended to be a trilogy, but it still needs to be noted. But other than that, this is one of the bleakest samurai flicks I've seen, and there a number of very satisfying scenes. It's a brooding psychological study with awesome swordplay, and Tatsuya Nakadai only adds to the badassery with his menacingly evil Ryunosuke.

The plot has some unnecessary elements, but the central character's descent is so mesmerizing, the climactic battle so tiresomely cathartic, that I couldn't help but love it.

Beautifully filmed, and Nakadai is intense and frightening as the cruel, probably insane Ryunosuke. The story, however, is somewhat lacking, meandering around and leaving some loose ends.

The lead character is wonderfully acted and truly menacing. I also felt that the way he fought, and killed really did a great job to reflect his personality. Too bad about the ending, considering the sequels never got made.

Worth a watch for the fight scenes.

I will watch this movie again and again almost entirely for Nakadai's character - that look of complete bliss after his slayings is the thing of nightmares.