This movie kicked all kinds of ass!! Seriously I really can't say enough about this film. I grew up loving these type of movies,not so much "kung fu" type movies,but samarai and shogun flicks,such as "Shogun Assasin" from back in the day.....really enjoyed that,but haven't seen a ton of the epic type films with brilliant sword play much anymore.I know they still make them in Asia,but they dont always make it over here to the states,and unlike my beloved horror films,I'm not so much in the loop on these type of films.
With that being said,I had been watching HDMovie Net the past couple of weeks and they had repeatedly aired commercials for a "sneak preview showing" of Takashi Miike's latest film "13 Assassins" which looked awesome in the previews.I really wanted to see this flick.
Now I haven't seen a shit load of his films,but he is best known here in the states for "Audition" which is about as fucked up a film as you could see....especially as the film first seems to start as almost a romantic comedy and ends up being a nuts ass torture flick.Hell his stab at the old J Horror standard of the long haired ghost girl in "One Missed Call" was even unlike any other of its type,especially the WTF? ending (still a very good film...FUCK you Hollywood and Ed Burns and the Cancer to film that is Shannyn Sossamon).Needless to say he doesn't always do films that are of the more standard type of fair.
"13 Assasins" seems to be Miike's attepmt at an old style epic,and man does the guy nail it!!! This film is fantastic!! "13 Assasins" is the story of an aging samari being enlisted to kill an oppressive and evil as shit lord.The samari is played by Kogi Yakusho who has been in many films including "Kairo" aka "Pulse" (again FUCK you Hollywood,and fucking Vampire Bullshit Ian "Oh I'll Just Put On Eyeliner and Be So Cool" Sommerhalder...cant hold it against Kristen Bell she's too damn adorable!!),as well as "Retribution". Well he is excellent in this.....its supposedly 1844 in Japan and its a peaceful time,where the samari have had very little to do in a long time...when he is approached to help out the people of the land to end the attrocities being put upon them by this Lord,he is more than ready to get the job done,he ends up recruiting 12 (it eventually gets to the titled 13) samaris to assist who all have had nothing to do,and considering,its like their job and shit to fight and die and stuff,well they are all up to the task.
Just as Yakusho is up to the task,every actor is great in this film.The actor playing the evil lord is great,bringing a feeling of a bored,spoiled,and just plain saidistic individual,he's awesome,you'll be wanting this fucker to get his just deserts.Plus how can you not LOVE a film that pits 13 guys against an army of 200? The last 50 minutes is one non stop battle and its perfect.Perfect in the way its filmed,and the way its staged and again the actors are great,they had to train their asses off for the amount of physical activity done in this film (mainly in that 50 minute battle scene).
Miike is known for his violence,and there is violence in this film,but again,he seems to have toned it down a bit(for him),the violence that is on screen is what would actually happened in a battle,not exaggerated in any ways.Even the results of the violence,as the scene of one of the results the lords actions is damn sad as hell,and the effect to make the victim appear as she does is something else.
Look,if you enjoy great action films,and have an itch for an epic of this type,see this film!! Its coming out in limited release (it should get a bigger release) and it will also be coming out on video very soon!! Or you can just wait for the half ass Hollywood remake where they make it either a sci fi flick or a western....
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