A remake of a 1966 Eiichi Kudo film, Takashi Miike's "13 Assassins" finds a small band of elite samurai embarking upon a mission to assassinate the sadistic young Lord Naritsugu.
The film belongs firmly to the "men on a mission" genre ("The Dirty Dozen", "Ocean's Eleven", "Seven Samurai", "300", "The Magnificent Seven" – notice a trend?), in which a leader typically puts together a team of misfits and specialists and then embarks upon a mission against ridiculously superior odds. Here the first half of Miike's film is spent interviewing and gathering men for the assignment, followed by a 45 minute battle in which our 13 assassins square off against hundreds of enemy soldiers. It's a Pekinpah/Spielberg inspired bloodbath, in which our heroes nobly accomplish their mission, before themselves dying.
In terms of flaws, the film's script lacks surprise, and Miike too often ignores strategy in favour for repetitive hack and slashing. Miike's battles themselves lack spatial sense, and are often unrealistic. The film does eventually win us over with its sheer, bloody relentlessness, but a better director would have added a more tactical, and intellectual kick – and thereby more drama – to the wordy, political battles of the film's first half, and bloody physical battles of the second.
Like most samurai films, "13 Assassins" espouses simple, even offensive values – sacrifice, submission, murder, honour, servitude etc – though it eventually pushes past such things and enters somewhat original territory. Here, Miike's ragged band of heroes advocate nothing less than making your own leaders bleed before they get into power. Only with this asserted pressure, this constant threat of force, will they then govern with fairness. It's an interesting idea - reverse dictatorship, where the populace governs its rulers with fear? – but one which the film has no real interest exploring.
7.9/10 – Worth one viewing. See instead: "Twilight Samurai", "Hara-kiri", "The Seven Samurai", Hiroshi Inagaki's "Samurai Trilogy", "The Hidden Blade", "47 Ronin", "Yojimbo", "Sanjuro", "Kiru", "Throne of Blood", "Goyokin" (1969), "Chushingura" (1962), "Lone Wolf and Cub: Sword of Vengeance", "Samurai Assassin" (1965 version), Kurosawa's sublime "Ran", and the great Masaki Kobayashi's "Samurai Rebellion".
The film belongs firmly to the "men on a mission" genre ("The Dirty Dozen", "Ocean's Eleven", "Seven Samurai", "300", "The Magnificent Seven" – notice a trend?), in which a leader typically puts together a team of misfits and specialists and then embarks upon a mission against ridiculously superior odds. Here the first half of Miike's film is spent interviewing and gathering men for the assignment, followed by a 45 minute battle in which our 13 assassins square off against hundreds of enemy soldiers. It's a Pekinpah/Spielberg inspired bloodbath, in which our heroes nobly accomplish their mission, before themselves dying.
In terms of flaws, the film's script lacks surprise, and Miike too often ignores strategy in favour for repetitive hack and slashing. Miike's battles themselves lack spatial sense, and are often unrealistic. The film does eventually win us over with its sheer, bloody relentlessness, but a better director would have added a more tactical, and intellectual kick – and thereby more drama – to the wordy, political battles of the film's first half, and bloody physical battles of the second.
Like most samurai films, "13 Assassins" espouses simple, even offensive values – sacrifice, submission, murder, honour, servitude etc – though it eventually pushes past such things and enters somewhat original territory. Here, Miike's ragged band of heroes advocate nothing less than making your own leaders bleed before they get into power. Only with this asserted pressure, this constant threat of force, will they then govern with fairness. It's an interesting idea - reverse dictatorship, where the populace governs its rulers with fear? – but one which the film has no real interest exploring.
7.9/10 – Worth one viewing. See instead: "Twilight Samurai", "Hara-kiri", "The Seven Samurai", Hiroshi Inagaki's "Samurai Trilogy", "The Hidden Blade", "47 Ronin", "Yojimbo", "Sanjuro", "Kiru", "Throne of Blood", "Goyokin" (1969), "Chushingura" (1962), "Lone Wolf and Cub: Sword of Vengeance", "Samurai Assassin" (1965 version), Kurosawa's sublime "Ran", and the great Masaki Kobayashi's "Samurai Rebellion".