I have managed to see a few samurai movies over the last couple of weeks. I was disappointed in Sword of Doom. Toshiro Mifune played his role perfectly, as expected, but his part was small and the plot was bad. There was one fight scene with Mifune which is very good, but the character Ryunosuke Tsukue was, in my opinion, poorly constructed. Samurai Spy, which is part of the new Rebel Samurai Criterion Collection box set, was so bad that I turned it off before it finished.
Samurai Assassin, on the other hand, was really good. Mifune plays Tsuruchiyo Niiro, an ambitious samurai who recognizes an opportunity and lets nothing get in the way of achieving his goal. It is a great movie to watch for anyone who is considering giving up their job to become a day trader.