"Sword of Doom" is an unusual film. Firstly, it is one of the most brilliantly photographed films I have ever seen, in composition, mise en scene, and the play of black and white.
Secondly, "Sword of Doom" is that rare film in which the aim of the director and the power of the lead mesh together to form an unforgettable portrayal.
Tatsuya Nakadai plays Ryunosuke, a skilled swordsman, who, from the opening moments of the film, proves also to be homicidally indifferent to human life. Ryunosuke is a strange and difficult character. His fighting style is passive, and he remains mostly uninvolved, both with the political turmoil surrounding him, and with his family - from his dying father, who fears the evil in him, to his lover (the wife of an opponent he kills) and his child. Nakadai's performance is magnetic, comparable to Montgomery Clift in it's singleminded, unyielding intensity.
While some of the subplots without Ryunosuke aren't quite as compelling, the ending is memorable and disturbing, and the direction will remind in some ways of Orson Wells.
