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Travis Ward
6th February 2004, 01:22
Hey guys, my dad got my older brother and I a movie called Sword of Doom. He said it was one of his favorites when he was young and then rambled on about Nakadai and Mifune, "An Evil Mind, An Evil Sword," etc. With a title like Sword of Doom, I thought that it was gonna be some big cheesefest. Upon watching it through, however, I have to say this is one of my favorites, right up there with Seven Samurai. The cinematography is incredible, and the atmosphere is just right. Nakadai is EXCELLENT as a samurai gone, well, insane, and Mifune, of course, has a strong character, though his role is short. I reccomend seeing it! I've seen it several times, and it's one of those movies where several shots just stick in your mind (if you've seen it...the forest massacre and Mifune getting pissed in the snow :D ).

I was wondering if anyone knew of any other movies with Nakadai in them...he was great in this movie, and I'd like to see some others with him in them.

RayCorrea
6th February 2004, 13:23
Originally posted by Travis Ward

I was wondering if anyone knew of any other movies with Nakadai in them...he was great in this movie, and I'd like to see some others with him in them.


Here is what looks like a complete listing of his movie credits from the Internet Movie Database.

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0619938/

Shiro
6th February 2004, 13:46
Originally posted by Travis Ward
I was wondering if anyone knew of any other movies with Nakadai in them...he was great in this movie, and I'd like to see some others with him in them.

You might want to check out Ran and Kagemusha.

Ran is a bit the samurai version of King Lear, Nakadai plays an old lord that divides his domain among his 3 sons.

And in Kagemusha, he plays the role of Takeda Shingen and his double.

I have a slight preference for Kagemusha, but Ran is great too :).

Travis Ward
8th February 2004, 19:48
Thanks for the help, guys! I'll be sure to check out those two movies...didn't know he was in any Kurosawa flicks!

Gary Dolce
8th February 2004, 22:43
Sword of Doom is also a personal favorite of mine. The cinematography for the scenes leading up to and during the fight in the snow and for the fight in the misty forest right after the duel at the beginning of the movie is stunning.

Nakadai's performance in Sword of Doom was fantastic. He also starred in Harakiri, another great samurai movie. Besides Ran and Kagemusha, Nakadai played the main villian in both Yojimbo and Sanjuro, two other Kurosawa films.

My one complaint about Sword of Doom is that there were too many loose ends at the end of the movie. I read somewhere (maybe at IMDB) that the director originally intended to tie the story up in a sequel, but Sword of Doom was not a commercial success so the sequel was never made.

Travis Ward
9th February 2004, 00:56
Gary, I agree with everything you said. I was amazed at how well the camera placement was done and the manner in which the fight scenes were shot. The scrolling fight in the forest, the frenzied fight in the snow, and any scene with a straight-on shot of Nakadai staring into the camera were incredibly well done. I'll be sure to check out his others, and hope he is as good in every other film he's been a part of.

As to the loose ends at the movie, it bothered me as well, and I did a little search on the net and found the following in customer reviews from Amazon:


If DOOM has any shortcoming, it might be an inability to reach a suitable conclusion with Western sensibilities. American influences almost require a neat and tidy packaged ending to films, and DOOM postulates one much like BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID where the fate of the participants is largely left to the imagination of the viewer. As the mad Nakadai swings and swings his way through his final showdowns with the gang he has long served, the audience is never given the ultimate vision of his survival or demise ... and that's the beauty of the tale. In the arc of his character, the samurai has already found and faced his fate, and it is madness.


* The final scene. What exactly happens? Does Tsukue kill dozens of men and then die? Does he survive to face the brother of the man he killed? Or is the entire battle only in his deranged mind? It's the last scenario. When Tsukue ran out of men to kill, his warped mind invented more. Of the three versions I've seen, (this version, a trilogy of films made in the 1950s by Tomu Uchida and another trilogy made in the 1960s by Kenji Misumi) this is the only version that doesn't explicitly show that Tsukue is imagining the final battle.

There is more there if you wish to read: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/6303386717/ref=nosim/broughsbooks/103-3793551-6490212?dev-t=D2Y5TUCCVJ7DGE

Enjoy!

Gary Dolce
9th February 2004, 22:48
Thanks for the interesting review stuff from Amazon. I wouldn't have any problem with the Butch Cassidy style ending, if the plot hadn't spent so much time setting up the prospective duel that never happens between Nakadai and the brother of the guy he kills in the first duel. I'm left with the feeling that something else was supposed to happen, unless the director was trying to say that all of that preparation for the duel was pointless.

Anyway, if you want to see Nakadai starring as a hero rather than a villain, take a look at Harakiri - another very strong performance in another awesome film.