13 Assassins (2010)

Directed by Takashi Miike. Starring Kôji Yakusho, Masachika Ichimura, Gorô Inagaki, Takayuki Yamada, Hiroki Matsukata, Yûsuke Iseya, Mikijirô Hira, Ikki Sawamura, Tsuyoshi Ihara, Sôsuke Takaoka, Arata Furuta, Seiji Rokkaku. [R]

In the waning years of the Edo period, aging samurai Yakusho is enlisted to assassinate a sadistic lord (Inagaki) protected by the shôgun, and so he and eleven other samurai—plus a hunter (Iseya) who guides them to a town where they can set a trap for their quarry—embark upon the daring, fatal task. A fairly straightforward, if quite violent, genre effort for director Takashi, a remake of the same-named 1963 film that follows the Seven Samurai template. In fact, seven assassins might have been the preferred choice since only about half of the thirteen are given characterizations of note, but no matter; this isn’t a solemn jidaigeki focused on studies of personality and the bushido code, but an assured, eye-filling period action picture with broadly-defined anti-heroes and a despicable foe. Terrifically entertaining (and utterly absurd) final battle takes up about a third of the runtime, even though the dodgy computer effects do spoil a small fraction of the fun. The original Japanese cut is about 15 minutes longer than the version released internationally.

77/100