"Samurai movies are known for many things: cool swordfights, badass protagonists, artful set designs, the contemplation of honor. All of the movies on this list include those things to one extent or another, but most of them go deeper than that. Because at the end of the day, samurai cinema is still cinema. The best of the genre works as entertainment, but also as films rooted in well-developed characters and well-explored themes.
The following ten movies, in their own ways, exhibit the very best that the genre has to offer. The swordfights are compelling, but so is everything else that surrounds them."
