Those with no stomach for blood are advised to steer clear of this well-made gangster film in which limbs are sliced off (sometimes by their owners) here, there and everywhere, while other parts of the body are slit open or blasted apart. Robert Mitchum and Takakura Ken (the distinguished Japanese actor in Michael Douglas's 'Black Rain') give excellent performances as two men who hate each other (it's a woman, of course) but come to deep mutual respect through a body-strewn battle against a common enemy. The action with swords is sometimes hard to watch, but the code of honour, and its burden of obligation, in the world of the Yakuza (Japanese Mafia) comes across strongly under the sensitive direction of Sydney Pollack. Recommended for those with constitutions strong enough to take it.


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