Review of The Sword of Doom (1966) by Anthony S — 25 Aug 2008

For a film made in 1966, this was one gory, uncensored bloodfest, albeit a slow-moving one. If you consider yourself a patient moviegoer that can sit through a foreign language film (which actually had the best subtitle translations I've ever seen), I think you'll find The Sword of Doom a rewarding cinematic experience, if not just for the grand finale.

Tatsuya Nakadai infuses more visual evil into a single role than I've seen since maybe Agent Smith in the Matrix Trilogy. I'm speaking of an evil incarnate so powerful that only certain actors (and direction) can transmute that raw emotion so powerfully.

Just the mere close-ups of Nakadai were enough to completely convince me of his madness and murderous, yet terrifyingly patient, rage. I very much enjoyed the sword fighting sequences and seeing something like this proves that all the wires and CGI in the world cannot take away from the single exquisite, precise, and lethal slash of a samurai.