13 Assassins (2011)

2011 | Action | History | International

126 mins Japan

In this remake of a 1963 film based on historical events, Shinzaemon Shimada (Koji Yakusho) leads a team of assassins in 19th-century Japan to eliminate the ruthless Lord Naritsugu Matsudaira (Goro Inagaki), who is wreaking havoc against his own people. Hired secretly by a government official hoping to end Matsudaira's reign of terror, Shimada recruits the best samurai in Japan and then sets a trap for the lord's large contingent of faithful bodyguards.



Produced by Magnet Releasing
Director Takashi Miike
Writer Shoichiro Ikemiya
Cast Koji Yakusho, Takayuki Yamada, Yusuke Iseya, Goro Inagaki, Masachika Ichimura, Mikijiro Hira, Hiroki Matsukata and Ikki Sawamura


13 Assassins Samurai

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Charlie Cobra Reviews

Added this item on Feb 23, 2017

13 Assassins (2011) Reviews & Ratings (2)
9-10
50.0% (1)
7-8
0.0% (0)
5-6
50.0% (1)
3-4
0.0% (0)
1-2
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LoganCrews (2861 KP) rated

Oct 28, 2021  
13 Assassins (2011)
13 Assassins (2011)
2011 | Action, History, International
Competent I suppose - I mean I still liked it and all - but I don't go to Miike to see something just competent, you feel? Gets points exclusively for the insane amount of people that get hacked, blown up, trampled, shot with arrows, and bludgeoned to death in the final act - and a particularly powerful last 20 minutes that wrap things up nicely (the way it touches on how the wealthy fetishize lowly rabble without actually wanting any of the consequences of it floored me ["So death comes for us all."]). It's a surprise to no one that this guy can emulate practically any genre with ease, but did this have to be so traditional? Am I being too much of a pushover to ask for more of that sweet, sweet gore that we only get bits and pieces (no pun intended) of? The final battle (which you guys all oversold) is notable in scope but is almost classical to a fault and lacks the snappiness of better martial arts films like Jet Li's ๐˜๐˜ฆ๐˜ข๐˜ณ๐˜ญ๐˜ฆ๐˜ด๐˜ด, for example - some of it you can't even see that well either. In fact I think this actually succeeds more in its more disturbing moments rather than its action, with that religiously entertaining villain often swooping in to save the day -I mean the guy's a riot, plain and simple (props to Goro Inagaki for playing him *perfectly*). A lot of the other stuff just feels emulative to me, never bad that's for sure - Miike seldom misses a beat - but I wish there was more of him visible here (he would have crushed some motherfuckers in those wooden spike wall traps). Though on that note, I don't mind at all that this dropped his affinity for drawing out scenes way too long.
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