13 Assassins review

 Number 676 on the top 1000 films of all time is the 2010 Japanese samurai film '13 Assassins.'

Set at the end of the Edo period, the tyrannical Lord Naritsugu (Goro Inagaki) is set to be appointed to the Tokugawa Shogunate council. Realising the dangers that entails, the Shogun justice minister Sir Doi Toshitisura (Mikijiro Hira) enlists the help of experienced samurai Shimada Shinzaemon (Koji Yashuko) to assassinate Lord Naritsugu. Shinzaemon recruits twelve other samurai to help him in his mission.

13 Assassins hearkened back to the days of Akira Kurosawa and his wide range of samurai films. you had all the elements you would expect including deep philosophising, harikari and the Bushido code of honour. It also had one of the most despicable villains that I have ever seen on screen.

Whereas most other villains have one redeemable quality, Lord Naritsugu is evil through and through. he is a sexual sadist who revels in torturing his victims. He is also an absolute despot, determined to crush any resistance around him. Goro Inagaki did well in turning this pure evil into a believable character.

Although the film is confusing at first with the introduction of each of the titular thirteen assassins - it takes a while for things to get going, but when it does the film is enjoyable. That is, until the ending, which let down a good film.

*spoilers ahead*

The film's final forty-five minutes are an extended battle scene where the thirteen assassins take on Naritsugu's two hundred men. Realising they are hopelessly outnumbered, they buy a local town and booby-trap it in clever ways. They rig parts of the town with dynamite while also creating spring-loaded walls to trap the soldiers. Then the assassins rein arrows down upon them.

This was a clever way to even the odds so that it baffled me when Shinzaemon declares that they'll stop their cheap tricks and they would fight the remaining 130 soldiers hand-to-hand. You've already killed seventy of their soldiers. Why not kill another seventy or another hundred before you take on the rest by sword-fighting. It seems like a silly way to get yourself killed.

And that's exactly what happened here. Although the characters initially have ridiculous amounts of plot-armour, this wears away as the 13 assassins die one by one. It all seemed like an unnecessary way to cause conflict. The 13 assassins had the high ground, they had the winning advantage, and then they threw it all away.

The end sequence was also intense, non-stop, relentless action while it was all brilliantly choregraphed, it became tiresome after a while. I would have much preferred to see this sequence broken into two. There is an initial skirmish where the 13 Assassins attack Naritsugu, but he escapes, killing some of them in the process. They then regroup and attack him again achieving their mission. We definitely needed some breathing space rather than the never-ending sword play.

And can we just mention the thirteenth assassin - the hunter - Kiga Koyata. He takes a sword to the neck, seemingly dies, but miraculously comes back to life in the film's conclusion. He declares he's had worse wounds from hunting wild boars. Some have said he's immortal, others think he was a trickster deity while others thought he really had died and what we see was a hallucination. Either way, it was weird.

I've seen a few samurai/Akira Kurosawa films in my time. They certainly have their fanbase, but I won't be joining them anytime soon.

The Last Samurai review

 Number 576 on the top 1000 films of all time is Edward Zwick's period-war drama 'The Last Samurai.'

Captain Nathan Algren (Tom Cruise) is a celebrated American civil-war hero. While his exploits of killing native-Americans has earned him a fiercesome reputation, it has also left him with severe PTSD. Sensing the prospect of future trade deals with Japan, his superiors send him to Japan to train Emperor Meji's (Shichinosuke Nakamara) army, so they can defend themselves against the rebellions led by the eponymous last samurai: Katsumoto (Ken Watanabe) and his men. Billy Connelly, Timothy Spall and Hiroyuki Sanada co-star.

The Last Samurai strongly reminded me of Kevin Costner's 'Dances with Wolves.' Both films star an American protagonist befriending and fighting alongside the enemy they're supposed to be fighting. Both films have the protagonists keep diaries as a narrative device. The difference is that the Last Samurai didn't bore me to the core. It was everything Dances with Wolves should have been.

It helped that the Last Samurai was directed by Edward Zwick who also brought the brilliant film Glory to life. Yes, he did use too much slow-motion at times, but he also presented an entertaining, watchable film that portrayed a country at war with itself. Should Japan modernise with Western traditions, clothing and, most importantly, guns, or should they stay true with their own tradition of the samurai. This is the question Zwick answers. 

It was also refreshing to see Tom Cruise in a different type of role. Yes, this isn't a million miles away from Ethan Hunt in Mission Impossible, but Nathan Algren had more depth than some of Cruise's more action-oriented roles. He is a man looking for redemption. And Cruise brought this tortured soul to life.

But the true star was Ken Watanabe. He received his only Oscar nod for this role. It was well-deserved. I thought he was brilliant as the samurai so desperately clinging onto the honour and tradition that he holds so dear. At times, it was a subtle, delicate performance, at others it was explosive, but it was always entertaining.

The cinematography and world-building was also well-textured and detailed. New Zealand stood in for Japan which explained the gorgeous cinematography.

My main gripe was with Billy Connelly who was doing some weird accent that was a hybrid between Irish and his native Scottish. It was like if they had asked Sean Connery to act with an Irish accent.

Nonetheless, I enjoyed the Last Samurai. Along with Glory, I can count it as another Edward Zwick success.