Japanese historical films get bloodier and more violent with each release, and director Takashui Miike has set a new target with "13 Assassins," opening today with a cast of thusands, of which only a handful survive. We start with a slow-motion sequence of a warrior committing suicide by knife, inserting it carefully into his stomach — but you know the rest. A little while later, our villain, Lord Naritsugu (Giro Inagaki) casts a desirous eye on a pretty young woman. He rapes her, and whenn her boy friend protests, he quickly decapitates him and kicks his head around the room as if he were practicing for a soccer match. Eventually, we have a hero, too, in Koji Yakusho.
So don't say you weren't warned.
This is a remake of a 1963 movie written by Shoichirou Ikemiya, with Daisuke Tengan updating the screenplay. But we're still in medieval times, with medieval sensibilities.
13 Assassins opens today at the Tivoli
–Joe