Review of 13 Assassins (2010) by Daniel A — 23 Jan 2014

Entertaining samurai epic which holds its own despite the overpowering greatness of the genre's previous offerings. Director Takashi Miike crafts an intriguing tale of vengeance against pure evil, taking the required time and effort to set up the premise and introduce the characters properly, before letting rip with an epic 40-minute battle.

Unfortunately it's this final battle which I found to be the film's biggest weakness; while no-one can deny its huge scale and solid execution, it still feels somewhat anticlimactic following the great build up that has come before it.

At times it lacks credibility, pulling the viewer out of the movie and back into reality as we question some of the feats being portrayed, while at other times the participants appear to merge into one, becoming indisinguishable from each other and making it difficult to follow who's attacking who.

This aside, a brilliantly mental villain and strong central performance from Koji Yakusho mean 13 Assassins is still miles ahead of the majority of action movies we've seen this year.