13 Assassins

13 Assassins (Jusan-nin no shikaku) (2010)

Runtime: 126 minutes (in Japan, it’s 141 minutes)

Directed by: Takashi Miike

Starring: Koji Yakusho, Takayuki Yamada, Yusuke Iseya, Goro Inagaki

From: Sedic International

I saw this movie via the Florida Film Festival; some people online gave glowing reviews to it, so I decided to check it out… this despite the fact that in the past I’ve seen some of Miike’s work and thought he was at best overrated. It just wasn’t for me. I thought that his most (in)famous film, Ichi The Killer, just wasn’t good and way too confused for me. However, this movie, based on a 1963 movie of the same name, sounded more straightforward. I ended up being quite satisfied with this motion picture.

The plot is rather straight-forward, to say the least. Apparently based on a true story, it chronicles life in 1840’s Japan, where the Shogun system still exists. Complaints come in about a guy named Naritsugu (Inagaki), a Lord who may become even more powerful in the near future, which is a bad, bad thing as he’s just one nasty dude. Caligula is the best comparison I can come up with for evil people in history. You see and hear him do some sick stuff, I’ll put it that way (perfect for Miike, I suppose, but that’s about the extent of the director’s trademark nastiness). So, someone behind the scenes hires some samurais to take out Naritsugu. They recruit some more sword masters to form a total of twelve and come up with a plan to take out Naritsugu and his protection in a town. The twelve go to town and they stumble upon some wacky guy in the woods and he joins along, becoming the 13th dude. The first part of the movie is the team coming together, working on this big plan, and then builds the trap. The second half of the movie… wow. It’s pretty much one epic long action sequence, and it’s tremendous.

Overall, the movie is simple yet effective. The characters are black and white and you want to see the bad guy get punished for his evil ways. There’s definitely violence but it’s not like you see blood spraying out after each swipe of the blade. There’s blood, but it doesn’t spray out too often. Yet, all the action is quite satisfying. The wacky guy in the woods is nice as it adds comic relief to the ultra-serious samurai and all the drama taking place.

Even though there were some uncomfortable moments when you saw Naritsugu on his reign of terror and some odd ones too, I overall rate this movie rather highly. If you dig the genre, this is a must-see, as a matter of fact. It will deliver everything you want… and more. Some may say that the first half is “slow”, but that’s poppycock to me. It’s the team getting together and forming the plan, and I was never bored by it at all.

One of the odd moments I referenced is when you see a character get killed rather clearly, and yet minutes later you see him return, alive and none the worse for wear. I guess something got lost in translation there. But, I’ll presume he’s an Immortal from the Highlander universe. Good thing he didn’t get his head chopped off.

I’ll be back Sunday night, and after that, Monday night. I’ll be seeing two more movies at the Florida Film Festival, and what a pair of contrasting films they will be.