'Azumi' is a frantic CGI-assisted Japanese period drama from cult director Ryuhei Kitamura starring pop siren Aya Ueto as a teenage assassin who begins the film as the only girl among 10 warriors who have been trained from childhood by Jiji, a grey-bearded samurai. One day, Jiji tells them they must pass a final test before they embark on the mission they have prepared for all these years. He pairs them up and the five that survive, led by Jiji, descend from the mountain that is the only world t find out more...

Ghost Dog is an assassin, but what sets him apart from his fellow killers, apart from his lethally effective abilities, are his many character traits including communicating by carrier pigeon and following the warrior code of the Samurai. His occasional employers, the comically inept local mafia, place a contract on him so Ghost Dog, strictly following the way of the Samurai, sets about turning the tables on his hunters. "Ghost Dog" is a hip, offbeat, thriller with all the usual quirks and humou find out more...

Benkei, a master fighter and killer, vows never to take another life after his conversion to a syncretic form of Buddhism, but he lives in the time of the Genji-Heike clan wars and it becomes his fate to clash with a trio of fighters known only as "the demons". Taking up his sword once more, he sets out to end their murderous terror. This mix of sword and sorcery and samurai traditions is visibly resplendent and musically resonant, and lots of swords clash and blood squirts, not bad really. find out more...

Samurai Champloo is the long-awaited next project from Cowboy Bebop director Shinichiro Watanabe. His two short films in the Animatrix compilation (Kid's Story and Detective Story) give American audiences a sneak peek at the phenomenal art style of this series, but they barely hint at the jaw-dropping action and unorthodox blend of history and music contained therein. The similarities with Bebop end at the fact that the series has three protagonists: the vagrant swordsman Mugen, the rogue sam find out more...

Set in remote north-west China at the birth of the Qing Dynasty in the late seventeenth century. A new law has banned martial arts on pain of death, and an army of bounty hunters, led by balding psycho Fire-Wind, targets Martial Village, where rebel lovers Wu and Han have won the friendship of a retired executioner who convinces to seek help from a master swordsmen from distant Mount Heaven. He agrees, sending four of his disciples to assist them, but as they lead the village to a safer place, t find out more...

A hardened veteran of the American civil war, Captain Nathan Algren is a man who's lost his way. A hero to many, he is haunted by some of the things he has done and when offered the chance to teach the art of modern warfare to a Japan in the grip of modernisation, he sees an opportunity to escape his past. Plunged into a war against the Samurai, Nathan is captured but allowed to live so that the warriors may learn the ways of their new enemy. From here on in it's mutual admiration all round; Nat find out more...

A veteran samurai, who has fallen on hard times, answers a village's request for protection from bandits. He gathers 6 other samurai to help him and they teach the townspeople how to defend themselves in return for three small meals a day. The film culminates in a giant battle when 40 bandits attack the village. Considered by many to be one of the greatest films ever made and the inspiration for "The Magnificent Seven", to be enjoyed both by film buffs and action fans. find out more...

The blind masseur Zatoichi wanders the countryside of 19th Century Japan, a perpetual drifter. Taking respite in a small town riven by gang power struggles, the initially unassuming Zatoichi soon finds reason to unleash the most lethal of skills, his peerless abilities with the sword. Zatoichi is a remarkable mix and match of genres; historical drama, morality tale, action movie and comedy, an often surreal but hugely entertaining slice of Japanese cinema from the director of Hana Bi and Violent find out more...