13 Assassins

13 ASSASSINS (2010) - May 7, 2012
A surprisingly straight-forward and very enjoyable film from Takashi Miike about a group of samurai who embark on a mission to kill an evil lord, who is on the verge of attaining a position of great power.  Miike's direction is superb, as usual -- the earlier, moody candle-lit scenes fare just as well as the action stuff at the end.  And unlike pretty much every other movie of his that I've seen, this one avoids convolusion and overbearing quirk in favour of something much more conventional, which is refreshing.  The film drags a bit, particularly in the stretch after the group has left on their mission, but before the final battle.  There are also a lot of characters here (13), which means that some of them get the short shrift -- I honestly had a hard time keeping track of who was who during the final battle.  But man, that final battle... the last 40 minutes or so of the film consisted of one long battle, in which the 13 men take on an army of 200 in a small town.  It's awesome.  Miike stages the action like a pro, and it's exciting throughout (no small feat, considering that such a long action set-piece could have felt overwhelming).  ***1/2