Living in Japan in it’s feudal era must have been interesting but extreamely dangerous, then again it would depend on which family or class you were fortunate or unfortunate to be born in. 13 Assassins is 2 hour festival of gore that isn’t as story or character heavy as I’d want but explodes halfway through into prolong fight scene that is not for the feint of heart. Reading a lot of samurai, shoguns, emperors, politics, war did nothing to prepare me for 13 Assassins, it is a must watch film for anyone reading this.
13 Assassins is a remake of the 1963 film Seven Samurai. Japanese director and cult legend Takashi Miike must have thought that doubling the samurai would have doubled the fun. Critics, viewers and fans of this genre have been raving and for good reason. Without spoiling much in this write-up there are a few things the nitpicker in me couldn’t help but notice such as some crappyly rendered CG bulls. Check it out if you haven’t done so already and let me know what you think! Plot synopsis and trailer below.
13 Assassins Synopsis
It is the end of Japan’s feudal era. 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. Lord Naritsugu is a sadistic and terrifying ruler, a man who goes to great lengths to bring fear to the people and so romanticized with the ways of war and death that his leadership is questioned. His reckless behavior is seen as too high risk for the nation should he ascend to an higher position, therefore respected samurai Shinzaemon is secretly called on to gather a team of samurai to assassin him.
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Looking forward to it – but then again I’m also a little cautious about remakes of quintessential movies – as Seven Samurai was. Takashi Miike is not known for his subtlety (although he can produce some quite sensitive moments… in between the gratuitous violence). Still – there’s nothing wrong with gratuitous violence in moderation.
Will look out for it.
let me know when you catch it and your thoughts
A remake of Seven Samurai (1963)? I’m not aware of other “Seven Samurai” than the one directed by Akira Kurosawa, which was made in 1954. After seeing both movies I can say the story is definitely not the same, although there are similarities. Well, both of them end with a fight in a village.. Still, I wouldn’t call this a remake. That’s if the original poster even meant Akira’s Seven Samurai in the 1st place..
It’s not a remake of Kurosawa’s Shichinin no samurai but a 1963 movie that was directed by Kudo Eiichi also named 13 assasins.
And Miike’s new samurai movie is also a remake.