If about 20 minutes were taken out of this movie, it would be perfect. characters come and go late in the movie that add nothing to the whole, but seem to take away from it. Nakadai embodies evil like few others in the history of film. He is totally convincing and mesmerizing. The action is top notch and the ending…wow…the screen explodes and every time i see this movie i jump out of my chair at the final frame. Kill Bill is obviously influenced by this except that Kill Bill sucks and comes off as just a gratuitous exercise in how much violence and gore Tarantino could squeeze into every frame. As violent as this movie is, it never comes off as gratuitous or pointlessly over the top. (Kill Bill part 1 was enough for me and i didn’t bother to see part 2)