13 Assassins - my review
Jan. 4th, 2016 07:04 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sunako_yueIn late Edo period of Japan, a vassal of the Akashi Domain named Tosho Mamiya (Masaaki Uchino ) commits suicide in front of the gate of Roju, the family of Lord Doi (Mikijiro Hira). By his suicide, he accuses the lord of Akashi Domain, Naritsugu Matsudaira (Goro Inagaki), with committing atrocities like murder & rape. Naritsugu Matsudaira, who is the younger brother of the shogun Ieyoshi, is set to become the Roju next year. The Shogun clan becomes disturbed by the case and believes the country's stability & peace is threatened by Naritsugu Matsudaira. Lord Doi then decides to assassinate Naritsugu Matsudaira and orders samurai Shinzaemon Shimada (Koji Yakusho) to carry out the deed.
Shinzaemon Shimada gathers eleven men, including a butcher ronin named Kuzuro Hirayama (Tsuyoshi Ihara) & Shinzaemon Shimada's own nephew Shinrokuro Shimada (Takayuki Yamada), who is a gambler, alcoholic and womanizer. As their plan progresses, Naritsugu Matsudaira's head samurai Hanbei Onigashira (Masachika Ichimura) hears of the assassinaton plan. Years ago, Hanbei Onigashira & Shinzaemon Shimada were fellow pupils of the sword, but ideological differences led them to part ways. Now, a mental battle between Hanbei Onigashira & Shinzaemon Shimada begins.
Shinzaemon Shimada believes the only way to assassinate Naritsugu Matsudaira is to ambush him in the town of Ochlai, while he is returning home from Edo. The assassins are dispatched to Ochlai to fortify the town and lay traps. During this time the assasins pick up a 13th member, a mountain man named Koyata Saga (Yusuke Iseya).
When the 13 assassins' plan is set to begin, they encounter many surprises, none of which is bigger than facing an army of more than 200 samurais ...
The main reason this movie attracted my attention was, not the reviews saying it was a phenomenal movie, but the fact that there is a 45 minutes-battle! And that the director is not other than Takashi Miike, the same that directed CROWS ZERO and CROWS ZERO 2 (the latter which has also a long battle scene). I mean, we are talking about a battle, with swords, 12 ronin and 1, errr, warrior, that fight against 200 samurais! That alone is one big and obvious reason to watch it.
Besides that, I wanted to see "rockstar" (hehehe, when I read that his profession was "rockstar" in a review, I laughed) Inagaki Goro, who was perfect as a sadist dono, since he is always so passive and has a kind face, which makes him a perfect choice to play a villain. His acts were sometimes TOO gruesome, thought. Not a movie for everyone.
There are many familiar actors in the movie, actors that I liked and that are good. Like Uchino Masaki (JIN Sakamoto Ryoma), though his scene is super short -maybe 30 seconds long- and he doesn't talk, but he has a powerful scene where he commits harakiri); or Iseya Yusuke (Joker Game Yuki), though he was not such a comedy relief in spite of what almost all reviews say; or Takaoka Sousuke (CROWS ZERO Izaki) and Ishigaki Yuma (HanaKimi 1st Head Dorm). Unfortunately, there is no character development whatsoever, so the audience cannot connect with almost any of them; cannot tell one from the other (all of them, except 2, have the same hairstyle and dark clothes) and at the end, their bravery is not so poignant since we barely know them.
And Yamada Takayuki... ohh, I think his role could have been a little better. Another undercast character. There are only 2 characters that showed personality, besides the villain, and that were the 2 frenemies: one who is the Lord's personal bodyguard, and the other who is the leader of the 13 assassins.
I could not enjoyed it as much as I wanted to because (and the reasons are totally not related to the movie itself): 1) the quality of the video was super low, and since the movie is a bit dark-ish, it was even worse. And 2) the audio was not synchronized with the video. It was like, 1 second behind, and it annoyed the hell out of me.
Yes, the movie was good for what it was, a battle-field with swords, and explorations, and gore and beheaded people. But I would have loved more character development.
My rating: 7/10
Shinzaemon Shimada gathers eleven men, including a butcher ronin named Kuzuro Hirayama (Tsuyoshi Ihara) & Shinzaemon Shimada's own nephew Shinrokuro Shimada (Takayuki Yamada), who is a gambler, alcoholic and womanizer. As their plan progresses, Naritsugu Matsudaira's head samurai Hanbei Onigashira (Masachika Ichimura) hears of the assassinaton plan. Years ago, Hanbei Onigashira & Shinzaemon Shimada were fellow pupils of the sword, but ideological differences led them to part ways. Now, a mental battle between Hanbei Onigashira & Shinzaemon Shimada begins.
Shinzaemon Shimada believes the only way to assassinate Naritsugu Matsudaira is to ambush him in the town of Ochlai, while he is returning home from Edo. The assassins are dispatched to Ochlai to fortify the town and lay traps. During this time the assasins pick up a 13th member, a mountain man named Koyata Saga (Yusuke Iseya).
When the 13 assassins' plan is set to begin, they encounter many surprises, none of which is bigger than facing an army of more than 200 samurais ...
The main reason this movie attracted my attention was, not the reviews saying it was a phenomenal movie, but the fact that there is a 45 minutes-battle! And that the director is not other than Takashi Miike, the same that directed CROWS ZERO and CROWS ZERO 2 (the latter which has also a long battle scene). I mean, we are talking about a battle, with swords, 12 ronin and 1, errr, warrior, that fight against 200 samurais! That alone is one big and obvious reason to watch it.
Besides that, I wanted to see "rockstar" (hehehe, when I read that his profession was "rockstar" in a review, I laughed) Inagaki Goro, who was perfect as a sadist dono, since he is always so passive and has a kind face, which makes him a perfect choice to play a villain. His acts were sometimes TOO gruesome, thought. Not a movie for everyone.
There are many familiar actors in the movie, actors that I liked and that are good. Like Uchino Masaki (JIN Sakamoto Ryoma), though his scene is super short -maybe 30 seconds long- and he doesn't talk, but he has a powerful scene where he commits harakiri); or Iseya Yusuke (Joker Game Yuki), though he was not such a comedy relief in spite of what almost all reviews say; or Takaoka Sousuke (CROWS ZERO Izaki) and Ishigaki Yuma (HanaKimi 1st Head Dorm). Unfortunately, there is no character development whatsoever, so the audience cannot connect with almost any of them; cannot tell one from the other (all of them, except 2, have the same hairstyle and dark clothes) and at the end, their bravery is not so poignant since we barely know them.
And Yamada Takayuki... ohh, I think his role could have been a little better. Another undercast character. There are only 2 characters that showed personality, besides the villain, and that were the 2 frenemies: one who is the Lord's personal bodyguard, and the other who is the leader of the 13 assassins.
I could not enjoyed it as much as I wanted to because (and the reasons are totally not related to the movie itself): 1) the quality of the video was super low, and since the movie is a bit dark-ish, it was even worse. And 2) the audio was not synchronized with the video. It was like, 1 second behind, and it annoyed the hell out of me.
Yes, the movie was good for what it was, a battle-field with swords, and explorations, and gore and beheaded people. But I would have loved more character development.
My rating: 7/10
