Quartile rating: 8/10 · 1 rating
A bravado period action film set at the end of Japan's feudal era in which a group of unemployed samurai are enlisted to bring down a sadistic lord and prevent him from ascending to the throne and plunging the country into a war-torn future.
Takashi Miike's 13 Assassins is a masterclass in slow-burn tension and explosive payoff. The acting is exceptional across the board, particularly Kōji Yakusho as the stoic leader and Gorō Inagaki as the chillingly sadistic Lord Naritsugu. The final 45-minute battle sequence is one of cinema's great action set pieces, earning a top mark for Ending. The plot is deliberately classical — a straightforward mission structure — and the cinematography, while competent and atmospheric, doesn't reach the heights of Miike's more visually inventive work. Novelty is solid but not extraordinary; it works squarely within the jidaigeki tradition, perfecting rather than reinventing it.