No big fan of Samurai cinema I. Martial arts has long been my Asian action of choice. But this could make a fan of almost anyone. Combining elements of classic samurai cinema with some clever updating, great performances and outstanding action Takashi Miike is getting some of his best reviews in years. The film concerns a group of samurai assassins assembled to rid the land of a war-mongering despot. It's a suicide mission, but failure will mean death for millions. This is unmistakably a Miike film offering some ghoulishly unforgettable images and scenes but the film doesn't major in that. Miike appears to be having an absolute ball with every aspect of this and the final battle sequence (which last almost an hour) is absolutely compelling on every level. So are the characters who emerge as types we've see before and exit as true heroes in the best samurai fashion. The original edition of this film runs about 2 hours 20 minutes with this clocking in at a little over two hours. The deleted material is included in the scant extras here which are comprised of featurettes. Image and sound quality are very good throughout.
13 ASSASSINS slays the BLURAY format