13 Assassins

Have you guys seen 13 Assassins yet? If not, sharpen your samurai swords (don't do that, it's illegal) and get that flick. No need to waste your hard earned dough on petty renting (renting isn't petty), my dear readers. Just buy it and send me your eternal gratitude for recommending it to you. (no need for that).

Written by Kaneo Ikegami and Daisuke Tengan and directed Takashi Miike, the film tells the tale of a group of assassins group together on a mission to kill this evil lord who's about to gain additional power.

I don't want to write a review here but I do want to mention a couple things. For one, it's beautiful. BEAUTIFUL. You get a real sense of what Japan was like at the time (or at least from what I gather living a hundred years later across a giant ocean). The lighting alone is stuning, rich environments... for me, some films like this become very stylized and at the cost of bringing you into the film. But 13 Assassins creates a real feeling world for you to get sucked into. Now, Takashi Miike (at least overseas) is sometimes known for very stylized but very violent, unrelenting work. If you're okay with that (which I certainly can be) you should check out his other stuff as well. But with 13, you see a lot of restraint as he focuses the dark parts to only key places in the film. The result are a film that's both striking visually and emotionally.

13 Assassins has a lot of action but also gives you a peek at the societal structure at that time and the actor's performances are incredible. On the surface the film is about a mission to kill an evil man, but underneath you get a story about duty, honor and the choices we make in life. Also, I argue, the single greatest decapitation scene ever captured on film.

Check out the trailer...

There's a lot of samurai films out there but, in my opinion, this one makes the short sword. See that awesome samurai reference, I just did? Clever right? Instead of short list? Right folks?

~D