I watched this as part of the watch challenge for 2018 and it was a movie my husband had wanted to see because of the sword choreography being talked up in reviews.

Story: They kept saying the guy was evil, but MOST of the things he did were shady, but not evil per se.  He is asked to comprise his ideals as a samurai, doesn't work well in a group, and has distain for a woman that lowered herself to save her husband and hates him.  If a movie is telling you one thing, but showing you another, it gets really really old really really quick.  Was he Paladin Samurai? by no means.

Acting: The lead does well with seeming to be devoid of emotion, without being devoid of acting.   There was no time when the immersion was broken by bad acting, and Mifune, who has a cameo part in this, does an excellent job.

The Ending.....what do we say about the ending....I was supposed to be part one of a trilogy that never got made.  When it ended we thought the moving was buffering....it wasn't, it was just done.

This way though you can give it a happy ending...or not if you like.