Sword of the Stranger has all the ingredients of a Japanese epic on par with Seven Samurai. Strong, realistic characters with fantastic back stories, incredible fight choreography and a sweeping scope. However, I feel it could've done some things better. The dialogue, like with a lot of English dubs, can be really awkward. Sometimes I struggled to tell what was going on in the fight scenes and the editing can be funky sometimes. The biggest change that would make the greatest impact, though, would be to put more focus on the character's different motivation. they all do get mentioned in some capacity, but not enough emphasis is put on them so I don't feel anything when their arcs are completed.
None of this makes the movie not worth your time, however, just slightly disappointing. It's still one that you should definitely see.
None of this makes the movie not worth your time, however, just slightly disappointing. It's still one that you should definitely see.