Story, The evil Lord Naritsugu is set to ascend to the Shogun council where his only plans aim is set to bring insanity and war to its people. The opening scene brings a man committing Hara Kiri, this to me is all takes for the film to draw you into its grasp, why did this person commit such an act, an act of honour, or cowardliness? The first hour of this film mainly focuses on character development as we need to find the 13 Assassins as well as develop an understanding to why these men would throw their lives up to go against Lord Naritsugu, with this hour we also learn the true fear and power of what Lord Naritsugu is capable off and the reason of why this man needs to be laid to rest so he will never ascend to the Shogun council.
The next forty fives minutes shows a truly remarkable fight scene of blood and honour and will leave many people who view this film breathless. This film also shows that you do not need a mass amount of CG to create such a masterpiece which is most likely my main enjoyment of this film. I am sure at certain points of this film I have not even noticed certain parts of this film had even used CG, it at times seemed that realistic. This film is not only about blood but the honour of the Samurai, one of the main commanders for Lord Naritsugu is fully aware that his Lord is set to commit such horrendous acts but by his code he shall follow him to his death, this shows true commitment of what the Samurai where like back in those days and that they where fully prepared to sacrifice themselves for others to live on.
Now the ending of this film is pure genius, with this ending we encounter success and failure, Lord Naritsugu shows his true colours at the end and we feel sadness but honour for the people who sacrificed themselves to defeat Lord Naritsugu. The acting is pure seriousness, some may say this could have been one downfall with this film but Takeshi Miike, the director of this film has my uttermost respect as I would say without seriousness, I would not imagine this film to do so well. The photography,camera lightning and direction of this film is purely brilliant with sets that show such pure detail in historical Japanese buildings as well as the effects off blood, gore and the layouts for the final fight scene which I would say shows true effort in the creation of this film
Out of the full cast I would say Koji Yakusho (Shinzaemon Shimada) did the best performance in this film, been the leader of the thirteen assassins his acting ability to bring the true honour of the samurai to life shows good reason and helps hold other less well know actors together. The remaining twelve Samurai show their agility and skill which adds the more brutal side of the film which I'm sure most people would be looking forward to while viewing this historical action epic.
Overall a brutal,bloody and brilliant film all in one, a true set masterpiece that will leave feeling the need for more. Lets not commit Hara Kiri over such delight to express our honour for this film.
8.9/10
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