Movie Review: 13 Assassins (Jûsan-nin no Shikaku)

2010.  Rated R. 2 hrs 21 min. Directed by Takashi Miike

 If wasn't for Hulu's announcement for a free movie, I probably would have glossed over this title. "13 Assassins" as it is known to the international viewers is a remake of a 1963 black and white film. I usually hold bias towards Japanese film because I feel that contemporary Japanese films don't hold up to the greatness of Akira Kurosawa-level. "13 Assassins" is a samurai hack and slash film that martial arts lovers should give a try.

According to Wikipedia, it has a very loose historical translation. The half-brother of the current Shogun, Matsudaira Naritsugu, partakes in murder, rape, and torture. Sir Doi, the senior advisor, to the Shogun can no longer endure Naritsugu's twisted enjoyments and malicious nature. The Shogun decides to name Naritsugu as his senior advisor and Doi sees that it will bring chaos to the people. So he enlists the help of Shinzaemon, one of the servants of the Shogun, to organize an assassination team to take down Naritsugu during his next visit to the Shogun. Shinzaemon is convinced to take on the mission when he sees one of the victims who had her limbs cut off, tongue removed, and used as Naritsugu's toy. They soon gather 13 assassins who were willing to lay their life for the sake of the people to fight against an army of 200 soldiers.

The film doesn't disappoint because it has its thriller action moments and its drama. There isn't a scene in the story that you think is unnecessary. The events flowed very smoothly into one another and there really wasn't a boring moment. I say this because there wasn't too much exposition or boring dialogue. It was very direct to the point. I would say the drama was very effective in the story because you can feel the sorrow for the deaths that happened or will happen. The music was really well done for the movie. It was dark and intense. Overall I was reminded of Kurosawa's "7 Samurai" because it had a similar storyline relating to bushido and justice. However, the pacing in "7 Samurai" is much slower than "13 Assassins" and less violent. The opening scene to the movie is one of the daimyo committing harakiri. That is literally a gut wrenching scene to open the audience to. Towards the end when the 13 samurai take down the army, it's all bloodshed and various traps and tactics. The main battle in the end is very long. Unless you really don't like to see swords (then why try this movie in the first place?), you will be sitting through a lot of fighting.

When I watched the movie, I recognized two familiar faces. One was Inagaki Goro who played Naritsugu and the other was Ichimura Masachika who played Hanbei. Both appeared in different j-dramas that I watched. I was pleased to know that they also did movies too. Especially Goro-chan who I love watching so much. I watched him in Onmyouji, Hungry!, and Take Five.