Movie Review: 13 Assassins

I really wanted this to be a great movie. Here’s the basic plot: near the end of Japan’s feudal era, a group of 13 assassins are sent to kill the Shogun’s evil brother before he can take the throne and destroy the country. Awesome, right? I was totally ready for this! I was expecting lots of action, beautiful scenery, and possibly something poignant at the end.

But no. There’s an hour and a half of plodding dialogue before anything happens. Let me tell you, this kind of plot did not need that kind of explanation. Sure, it sets up the evil brother as a truly sadistic person, and we got to meet our good guys. I found myself wishing the good guys had been more developed, though; I wanted to know why I should care about them individually. Instead, we got two or three somewhat compelling characters and the others were basically bodies. I couldn't help but think of Seven Samurai, and just how much this movie wasn't it. (Dan says, “To be fair, Seven Samurai only had 7 characters to come up with, this one had 13—nearly double.”)

I will say, though, that the battle scene—which takes up the last half hour of the movie—is pretty good. The set-up for the assassins’ face-off with the evil brother and his cronies is clever. It’s an all-out, grisly, action-packed battle that basically destroys the entire set. That hour and a half of dialogue leads to a satisfying ending.

I've been thinking about who I'd recommend this film to. I don't know what niche this fills, exactly. I guess I'd recommend it to folks who've seen a lot of samurai films and are looking for something recent. The appeal is pretty limited to samurai film fans only.