Director: Takashi Miike

A grand tale of men banding together to fight an unrelenting evil, content to die if they can free their land from the marauding tyrant and his gargantuan army.

Billed as Takashi Miike’s 100th film at the time of release, ‘Blade of the Immortal’ sees the enfant terrible deliver one of his best films of recent: both violently excessive and beautifully crafted.

‘For Love’s Sake’ has sporadic moments of brilliance but falls short of being the fast, fun and feisty musical action teen romance it could have been.

This version of ‘Hara-Kiri’ just simply pales in comparison to Kobayashi’s version and while it’s certainly good for a majority of its run time, you still may be wondering what’s the point of it.

For those prepared for difficult material and subject matter it is a stylish, gripping example of fearless, maverick cinema.

Despite doing some things right in terms of the look and feel of the franchise, it never quite seems to re-capture the atmosphere or the magical abilities to the point where they truly captivate.

Not a classic, but for those not yet bored by vengeful serial killing and familial mysteries, there is much to recommend here.

For a director known for lurid excess, ‘Shield of Straw’ is a subtly haunting thriller with an ending that asks questions of everything that went before it.

This is ‘Spaghetti Western’ done Miike style, and one of his strengths is his ability to construct a world that you can’t find anywhere else and that you don’t want to leave.

An eclectic and compelling triumvirate of screen darkness, it would be a shame if this marked the end of the ‘Three’ experiment. How about a film from female directors for the next instalment?