I've never really been a big fan of Takashi Miike's work. Oh, I admire the fact that the man is a movie-making machine. Between 2001-2002 he made fifteen films! But I've seen several of his films, and none of them have ever really clicked for me. So I entered his remake of Eiichi Kudo's 1963 classic Thirteen Assassins very cautiously. I was pleasantly surprised to find that his vision of this infamous true story from Japanese history was very enjoyable. The story goes that in the 1840s, Lord Matsudaira Naritsugu, the brother of the current shogun, was a maniac who raped and killed people at will. His brother wanted to promote him to a higher station in the government. So Doi Toshitsura, a senior government official, hires Shinzaemon, an experienced samurai, to assassinate Naritsugu while he travels from Edo. Shinzaemon gathers eleven other samurai and a mountain hunter (who may or may not be a demon in human form) to concoct a plan to kill the evil lord. They do so by booby-trapping a town that Naritsugu will travel through into a death-trap. However, things take an unexpected turn when Naritsugu shows up with 200 guards instead of the 70 that they estimated. But they still decide to fight. The last 45 minutes are essentially a prolonged action scene. With only a few exceptions (i.e. the CGI bulls) the battle is incredibly detailed and realistic. Miike expertly choreographs the fighting so that it appears brutal, violent, and dirty. We truly believe that we are watching 13 warriors take on 200 guards. The original by Eiichi Kudo was a bit more focused on character development and internal politics. Obviously, this remake is more action oriented. But both interpretations succeed due to expert writing and craftsmanship. This is one action movie that even cinema snobs can enjoy.
8/10
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