SHORT/SUMMARY:
It's a well put together action film which ticks all of the necessary boxes. While solid in all core regards and particularly nice direction in terms of action, its core story is quite predictable (but still perfectly adequate) but stumbles with its handling of some periphery elements which could have added some more depth, keeping it in the realm of good rather than great.
If you're after a solid actioner, you can't go wrong with Sword of the Stranger, but its not a must-watch.
7/10
DETAILED REVIEW (SPOILERS):
Sword of the Stranger is a film built on very safe and solid foundations but introduces some minor story/character elements that fail to pay off in satisfying or meaningful ways.
Its core story is set in feudal Japan and revolves around a young boy being hunted by a group of Chinese soldiers who intend to use him in a ritual to grant the Chinese emperor immortality. The boy is rescued and accompanied by a ronin as they try to evade their pursuers.
Its pretty predictable stuff with few surprises, but a side plot involving a power hungry former-samurai contesting against the Chinese does well to add a bit more to an already perfectly serviceable story without feeling tacked on.
The protagonist Nanashi shares a few too many similarities to a certain Rurouni Kenshin that I just couldn't ignore and feels like a bit of a clone (red hair, elite soldier who went into hiding after becoming disillusioned with war, has a gimmick to make his sword less lethal). The boy, Kotarou is a typical stubborn and self sufficient pre-teen with a bit of an attitude. The antagonists are also fairly typical, with little character development and the central one being a stoic battle-hungry swordsman who lives to encounter a worthy opponent. Nothing special here. Oddly enough, the most interesting character is actually a secondary one; a former samurai who served beside our protagonist, now training commoners in martial arts with grand ambitions of waging a revolution and becoming a lord himself.
The art is good with fluid animation and dynamic action sequences, with the agile characters and the 'camera' often sweeping and moving to showcase the scene. The climactic battle is frenetic and carries a real sense of scale with it. As far as the action sequences go, Sword scores full marks. There is some CGI that sticks out, most notably the massive ritual altar constructed by the Chinese, but it isn't seen frequently and doesn't intrude on anything.
I'll avoid talking about the sound as I watched most of the film on a plane, so I didn't have the clearest audio experience.
Unfortunately, some of the little details that are introduced aren't handled as well as the core story and fail to be narratively satisfying. Unfortunately, it wouldn't have required many changes or much additional work to have given these elements proper payoffs, making it all the more disappointing. And this is where we get into spoiler territory...
Nanashi is shown collect some nuts/seeds and carry them around in a tube. It is later revealed that he uses them to dye black his naturally red hair as he was picked on and considered a barbarian when he was younger. This is a parallel to the main antagonist, who happens to be blonde (a fact that is noted by another character). They pay-off for this development? Well, there isn't one. Nanashi uses the nuts to trip over an enemy at the end...and that's it. In fact, other than the brief moment that you find out he has red hair, Nanashi's hair is black for the whole film, including the climactic duel, the perfect opportunity to bring the parallel to light and tie it in with the rest of the movie.
Another failed element is the sword gimmick, except instead of a setup with no payoff, it's the reverse. Nanashi has talisman (essentially a piece of fabric) that binds his sword to its scabbard, preventing him from drawing it. It's heavily implied that he does this to prevent himself from being able to kill others, a form of atonement for killing defenseless civilians in the past. What would have been a great payoff of him breaking the seal to draw his sword at the end, this time to protect the defenseless, is ruined by the fact that he killed people earlier in the film with the talisman still on his sword anyway. So what was the point of having it in the first place?
There are also quite a few gaps in the story (as far as details go) that could have really helped to flesh out and tie up the whole story that would elevate it from being a stock decent action movie into something truly intricate and well thought out (I'm tempted to write a long rant for that too). Instead, its wonderful action sequences are let down by wasted and missed opportunities.
While certainly not a bad movie by any stretch of the imagination, its a slightly overrated film that only has its dazzling action set-pieces to help it stand out from the rest.
