Folks this movie, to me, was slow from the very start all the way to the end. I gave it a yes in all
three of the above categories because there wasn't a so-so category. When there was sword
fighting the fighting was the only fair part of the movie.
People often cite the Seven Samurai as the best samurai movie, but IMO this is the granddaddy of them all. It's a bleak, wonderfully twisted story of a man slowly becoming obsessed by the blade, and of the countdown to where he is to be confronted by the only man that can stop him. Love this film. Five stars, easy.