Director Takashi Miike is most known for his ultra-violent disturbing thrillers and horror films. 2010's "13 Assassins" is relatively tame by his standards but certainly has plenty of violence and frequent unsettling scenes. This movie manages to mix dark and gritty amidst the simple yet serene beauty of feudal Japan architecture and clothing as well as fluid action choreography.
This is a remake of a 1963 film of the same name and is also clearly an homage to classics like Akira Kurosawa's "The Seven Samurai." However, "13 Assassins" doesn't feel like a parody at all. In fact, if more films of this caliber get made, the samurai genre will not have to be lauded only for past successes.
"13 Assassins" takes place in the 1840s. Historically, this was a period of peace but stagnation for the samurai and the Shogun ruling system in Japan that eventually saw to it's collapse. Lord Naritsuga (Goro Inagaki) is the Shogun's half-brother and has gained a lot of power. However, he is sadistic, killing, raping and torturing people at will for little or no reason. His violence against women is particularly heinous, as one scene involving a quadruple amputee shows. Early on it's made clear that Naritsuga has no redeeming value whatsoever. He is utterly evil and sociopathic. Basically, this is a guy Dexter needs to visit.
Sir Doi (Mikijiro Hira), a high-ranking adviser to the Shogun, sees that Naritsuga's rise in power is bad news. Fearing that the man's unhinged violence will infect the Shogun system and thus the whole of Japan, he secretly enlists samurai Shinzaemon (Koji Yakusho) to take Naritsuga out. Shinzaemon enlists 11 fellow samurai, including his party animal nephew and his hard-training disciple. Each have special skills and unique personalities, making this a well-rounded group to watch.
Naritsuga and his ontourage are traveling so the newly formed band of assassins follow in hopes of cutting him off and cutting him down in a small rural village. Along the way they meet their 13th assassin, a crude, free-spirited hunter named Koyata (Yusuke Iseya). He helps to provide some comic relief and also serves as a contrast to the strict lives the samurai lead.
The final battle is spectacularly constructed. It takes up around an hour of the film's time but doesn't drag in the slightest because of its uniqueness. The assassins have reached the town they set out to before Naritsuga's party arrives. They pay the entire town to leave but not before helping to construct elaborate traps everywhere that turn it into a deadly labyrinthine maze. At first, the assassins, with their element of surprise, have the upper hand and pick off multitudes of Naritsuga's nameless samurai. But the sheer numbers of them, 200 in total, eventually begin the overwhelm the group.
The final final battle of course involves a direct sword fight between Shinzaemon and Naritsuga but not before his battle with Naritsuga's right hand man Hanbei (Masachika Ichimura), an old sparring partner of Shinzaemon's. These two show the conflicting viewpoints within the samurai structure with Hanbei espousing duty above all and Shinzaemon espousing justice above all. Also, it turns out Naritsuga loves dishing out pain but he's not very good at taking it.
"13 Assassins" makes use of many shades of grey for the costumes and sets. It is also often raining. These two elements do a great job with reflecting the somber mood surrounding the dilution of the samurai ideal and the corruption of the feudal system. Naritsuga always wears pure white, which also helps to contrast his lofty position with his lowdown acts.
While this movie is a great action film and character drama at the same time, some elements might make it confusing for Western audiences. For example, much of the first half of the film concerns the acts, practices and duties of Bushido, the code of the samurai, and how these help and hinder individual samurai on a personal, cultural and political basis. These scenes, despite the good acting, could be tedious to any viewer unfamiliar with samurai history. Though even if these elements are understood, the flow of "13 Assassins" is a bit herky-jerky at times. But you can't accuse this movie of not being thorough.
Samurai movies, and this one in particular, are violent. There's no point denying that. But the bloodbath isn't violence for the sake of it. It is a byproduct of the wonderfully intricate plot, stoic but intense acting and breathtaking sets and scenery. "13 Assassins" refuses to sacrifice substance for style or visa-versa and instead amps up both as far as they can go.
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