Colibel Terrible acting, screenplay and direction.

Reptileenbu Did you people see the same film I saw?

ChicRawIdol A brilliant film that helped define a genre

Fleur Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

fifthdigitdesign In the beginning there was a very handsome, half naked man alone on a boat,eating raw fish..., Then, there was an white bearded old teacher who'd showed the boys how to fight and said really wise things. Than, there were some nicely choreographed fights ,some gorgeous scenery and costumes, a bit of romanceending in tears... Then the good guys took revenge on the bad guys meanwhile changing the course of history for the better. what is there not to like...?:o))) The first Martial Arts movie I ever saw at the cinema. I remember going back to see it maybe 4 or 5 times. I was about 13 years old and the only girl in thecinema. good old days! If I could get hold of a copy I would watch this film 4 or five times more!

aggie80 Hiroyuki Sanada is once again playing a part with his mentor Sonny Chiba, this time as opposing forces. Basic plot thread is easy to follow and hangs together fairly well. Very typical lot of self sacrificing colleagues to insure that the hero wins in the end, but at what cost!There are a number of rather impressive fight scenes, and while they were Pretty typical, there was a bit more variety in the weapons that I liked. The pretty chinese girl with her red lacquer nunchuck and the hero with his short sword(s). A few great scenes. The original destruction of the hero's castle while he was a child sticks with me. I liked the battle in the ruler's castle, with the ladies in waiting using their naginta to defend their lord. A number of mysterious strangers that show up at the right time to help.The use of muskets in many of the battles adds both a thread of historical accuracy, and the challenges of working them into a martial arts based flick. I found the ninja in the correct color of blue rather refreshing over the typical mis-used black. But the camoflage ninja where rather strange, since the pattern looked identical to the recent military designs. The one thing absent from this compared to many of the genre is the use of magic.

Daniel Kahn Nelson (PNelson698) Hi Fight Fans!!!!! It's Daniel Kahn Nelson, here once again to give you a proper statement on a great martial arts film!!!!This is without a doubt the greatest ninja film ever created! This film had it all- Sonny Chiba, Samurai, spider ninja, knife fighters, swordsmen, assassins, black ninja, kung-fu people from china, blade-staff women, beautiful scenery, great choreography, a great story, romance, vengeance, treachery, and just about every weapon that could be used in it's type of film. My god, what more could an action movie fan ask for!!!!!!! I mean wow. Well after getting that out I'd give this beautiful work of art called a film 20 out of 10!!!!!Truly a must see for any type of action movie fan- kind of like Scareface!-Once again this is Daniel Kahn Nelson saying WATCH THIS FILM !!!!!

el_ajmed First time i saw it i didn't like it,since that time i was a kid who was into Kung Fu movies where there are fighting all the time which in this film there aren't so much hand to hand fighting scenes(just a few).But years later i digged this movie just to watch it again since it was long time ago and i experienced a great film with nice story and nice stunts and Henry Sanada is great in that movie,seeing him is like seeing Bruce Lee.Please see it its great,japanese ninja films rules!