13 Assassins
Directed by Takashi Miike
- adventure
- drama
- action
The story
A bravado period action film set at the end of Japan's feudal era in which a group of unemployed samurai are enlisted to bring down a sadistic lord and prevent him from ascending to the throne and plunging the country into a war-torn future.
What it’s like
Weathered wood, overcast daylight and muted earth tones give way to a long, rain-soaked finale of smoke, mud and torchlit dark, all shot with a handheld, closing-in urgency. Miike's camera gets close to the blades and bodies, and the score is mostly wind, footsteps and drum-driven swells rather than melody. The pacing is slow to build, a patient gathering of men and planning in quiet rooms, then the last act turns into a sprawling, roughly ninety-minute battle through a mountain village, where the violence is frequent, bloody and often cruel: stabbings, beheadings and mass slaughter, with some sexual menace and a suicide. Its emotional register is grim and stoic, with the samurai's loyalty and fatalism carrying more weight than any twist, and its people are aging, idle warriors who choose a hopeless duty. It suits viewers who want a serious, sweaty period epic with a long payoff, not a light or gentle watch.
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