Movie #264 13 Assassins *2011*

Takashi Miike is a prolific director.  In 20 years he has made over 80 films.  That is an insane amount!  Of course not all of them are winners.  Miike is also a decisive and diverse film maker.  He has made comedies, childrens films, horror, and now a samurai movie.   Miike's most critical beloved film as director is Audition.  It is a torture porn type of film.  It is both beautiful and horrific.  He also directed a movie called Ichi the Killer which I had to shut off because of its gore.  That doesn't happen very often.

13 Assassins is the story of a rising shogun that can best be described as a sociopath.  He believes that the people under his rule sole purpose is to serve him.  He disgusting mutilates a woman by cutting off her hands, feet and cutting out her tongue simply for his entertainment.  Miike can not resist showing the viewer this simply for his entertainment.  Some of the samurai under his rule realize that he needs to be taken out or his is single handedly going to destroy the villages he controls.  They develop what many would call a mutaniy of sorts.

This is a side of Miike that I have never seen before.  There is a lot going on thematically here.  You have the nature of a terrorist.  To the shogun, these assassins are terrorist.  You have Japanese tradition under investigation.  Servitude and duty are major concepts to Japanese culture and Miike is questioning all that.  I love it that he manages to do all this in a samurai flick.

The bulk of the film is the assemblage of the will be assassins.  The Seven Samurai comparison here is inevitable.  The stories are paralleled.  And why not?  It is a great story.  Each samurai is given a different persona and these are allowed to breath and feel natural instead of being wedged in and looking like simple plot devices.

Eventually the battle between the 13 assassins takes place in a small village that the assassins have rigged.  The 13 of them are forced to take on an army of 800ish.  Now the film takes yet another shift in style and it becomes a modern action film.  There was some ridiculous CGI with boars set on fire that didn't work at all and the expositions seems forced.  But that is only the first 5 minutes of what will become a 45 minute battle.  There was little to no wire work.  There is little to no gun fire.  It is almost entirely sword fighting.  If you are into samurai sword fighting I strongly suggest you watch this film.  It is great set piece after great set piece.  The battle is just above the realm of realism, and gives it a bit of a mystical feeling, but still grounded in reality which makes each swipe or stab of a sword mean something.

I won't spoil anything here but I think Miike elevates the samurai movie in a way that I wasn't expecting.  I figured on a blood bath (which it is) and not much else.  But Miike ask questions with this film.  Now I am really excited to see what he does next.  I give 13 Assassins ★★★1/2.