Picture this: The movie 300…but with Samurai. That’s essentially what Japan’s most prolific and interesting director, Takeshi Miike, has done with his latest and most realistic film to date, 13 Assassins. And by realistic I mean toning down the amount of blood spewed to normal bodily levels.
13 Assassins tells the story of a sadistic lord, and half brother of the shogun, named Lord Naritsugu Matsudaira (Gorô Inagaki), who goes around putting servants in their place through torture, rape and whatever means he feels is necessary to satisfy his cravings of punishment. To prevent his rise to the Shogun throne/council, an old and unemployed samurai by the name Shinzaemon Shimada (Kôji Yakusho) is hired to assassinate the lord before he is allowed to bring war to a nation currently at peace. As the end of samurai era inches closer, Shinzaemon decides that the lord must be taken out, not for the sake of the shogunate officials that hired him, but for the common people who are bound to suffer the most by Naritsugu ruthless ruling methods. As a result, Shinzaemon recruits 12 other men, all unemployed samurai but one, and together they devise a plot to trap and kill the lord.
Miike, well known for his cult work, ventures out of his shell with this jideaigeki action period piece and does so with much more poise then one would expect. Miike takes this story, one that isn’t necessarily the most original (it is a remake of a film from 1963), and makes it much more interesting than originally anticipated. He sets the movie up in two parts, the first 70 minutes being all about character development, recruitment and plotting the assassination attempt. The second is legitimately all action with bits of dialogue woven throughout, more for battle purposes, clarification, and comedy.
It’s this two part structure that really roped me into the movie, the reason being that I just wanted to see some samurai kick ass. So it was really the anticipation and preparation for the battle that got me really excited (I love samurai!) While the first part isn’t bad, it’s the second part that truly steals the show and it’s where we see Miike’s directing and the actors’ performances flourish.
In the second part of the film, when the massive battle of the 13 Assassins against the 200 soldiers begins, we don’t see utter mayhem erupt on the screen, we see calculated chaos. The methods the Samurai use to pick off the soldiers are fantastic, ranging from trapping handfuls of the soldiers in pits and shooting them with arrows to triggered explosions. The entire town where they camped was one massive maze/trap, constructed to optimize the skills of each samurai. The set was one of the most impressive things about this movie. I digress though, you’re wondering if Miike used tons of blood, my answer is simple, where blood was required it was found. Unlike his past films, Miike took a realistic approach to this one, staying true to the classic ways of the samurai genre but also providing the violent nature that would have existed in a battle of this caliber. The blood and gore that was present was only for the sake of realism, it wasn’t like watching Full Metal Yakuza with blood spraying everywhere.
As for the final duel, it kept the tension and excitement that was prevalent during the large scale battles, but it also incorporated the two distinct samurai views on the Lord that resulted in this massive battle in the first place. The battle was between two former samurai classmates and that, in and of itself, makes it more thrilling.
Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed 13 Assassins. Having a love for the samurai way of life and fighting style definitely added to my love, but if you want to see a quality action flick this is definitely one to watch. The fight sequences are impressive but it’s the set up and the execution that will impress you more than the swordplay itself (look at the pic above and use your imagination). And while it may not be the Miike you are used to, don’t ride it off yet because the film is legitimately good and it’s bound to make you buy a sword immediately after watching it. If anything, watch it because of the name itself, 13 Assassins just sounds too badass to pass up.
Rating:A great Samurai film that should be seen in theaters and isn’t just eye candy for jidaigeki lovers (7.8/10)
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