13 Assassins

Directed by Takashi Miike. Starring Kôji Yakusho, Takayuki Yamada, Hiroki Matsukata, Kazuki Namioka 16 cert, Cineworld/ IFI, Dublin, 126 min

IT’S THE mid-1900s. As feudal Japan splutters towards an end, the samurai classes are in crisis. Many ronin have already pawned their swords, spent the proceeds on tattooed ladies and moved on. Others cling to the Bushido code, yet find few opportunities for vainglorious sacrifice in a time of peace.

The sheer number of samurai roving about without masters or dynastic connections raises an interesting conundrum. Who must these unaffiliated warriors serve, the ruling classes or the people? Historically, that same question heralded the dawning of the Meiji era and the political skirmish depicted here.

13 Assassins, a remake of Eiichi Kudo's classic 1963 chambara, sees the titular swordsmen take vengeful action against an errant royal. The psychotic young Lord Naritsugu is a rapist and a murderer who uses children for arrow practice and limbs for trophies. Unfortunately for his victims, he's also the Shogun's half-brother, thereby placing him well above the law.

Protected by protocol, position and his own private army, it falls to a government minister to conspire against his masters by hiring in a bad-ass team of samurai.

Team leader Shinzaemon Shimada couldn’t be happier about the coming showdown: “I have often wished for a noble death,” notes the tearful warrior. As the 13 face down a sizeable royal regiment and improbable odds, an extended battle sequence ensures there are many such noble deaths.

Never mind the "most violent film ever made" notices. Director Takashi Miike, accomplished purveyor of such freaky Freudian nightmares as Auditionand Visitor Q, plays it comparatively straight with the material. More than 200 deaths are chronicled within the film's final standoff, but the bloodwork is frequently downplayed in favour of old-fashioned choreography and stick-on-stick action.

For most of its running time, 13 Assassinsseeks and attains the Machiavellian elegance of The Godfatherand the dignified old-school grammar of The Seven Samurai.Stately and epic, Miike's film could not look more different than the gaudy wirework of similarly minded Hong Kong revivals Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragonand House of Flying Daggers. Samurai don't do party tricks.