Cult Japanese director Takeshi Miike (Audition) takes a break from his lunatic-laden thrillers to deliver this periodic samurai epic (in the proper sense of the word).
At the withered end of Japan's feudal era (along with samurai influence), a group of unemployed samurai are enlisted to bring down the Shogun's sadistic above-the-law younger brother, Lord Naritsugu. With the country threatening to plunge into a war-torn future, this band of assassins commence a final stand in order to prevent the masochist from ascending into power.
This is a remake of Eiichi Kudo’s 1963 black-and-white film of the same name.
Japanese director Takashi Miike is (in)famous amongst cinephiles for his bizarre, violent re-workings of genre cinema; in this case, samurai movies. He may be mellowing in his old age, as 13 Assassins plays it remarkably straight by the standards of his own back catalogue. This has allowed him to create a wildly entertaining blockbuster that should appeal outside the extreme Asian cinema niche market.
There would appear to be a sizable budget bankrolling this production, as the costumes and sets look fantastic from the get go. Some of the more basic story elements are a touch weak and you may find yourself getting antsy waiting for the action to kick in, but when it does you’ll never want it to stop. Lucky for you then that the central face-off comprises almost half the film’s running time and encapsulates all sorts of malevolent sword play, captured with a constantly shifting camera and kinetic editing that only adds to the excitement.
It’s worth going out of your way to see the aforementioned battle scenes on a big screen, as such visual spectacle more than makes up for the film’s other weaknesses and won’t be nearly as impressive on DVD.
By Andreas Heinemann, Flicks.co.nz
The film is terrifically entertaining, an ambitious big-budget epic, directed with great visuals and sound .
A decent historical drama, with one of the best extended battle scenes (a full half of the movie is the face-off in the ‘village of death’) in recent memory.
A beautifully lensed but rather unremarkable Japanese period piece.
13 Assassins will floor connoisseurs of action, mood and the dignity of a pissed-off scowl.
Takashi Miike's period samurai drama takes a while to get going, but the fight sequences make it worthwhile.
We've been told the NZ release date for this flick is Thursday, 10th Nov 2011.
Release date: November 10th 2011.
We haven't received times for this movie in this location yet. However these are updated as cinemas announce them, so check back soon. Hopefully the lovely cinemas in your location will choose to play it shortly. ~Ed.
