13 Assassins

Aroview: Takashi Miike turns in perhaps his most entertaining and accomplished film yet with this rollicking SEVEN SAMURAI-inspired adventure, centred on a group of noble swordsmen who plot to overthrow a tyrannical warlord – even if it costs them their lives.

Peppered with the director’s trademark subversive humour, though by no means overly grotesque or unpleasant because of it, the movie as a straight-up action spectacle is as soundly devised and constructed as they come, culminating in a hair-raising, thrill-a-moment battle sequence (arguably the longest ever filmed) that will have you both punching the ceiling and sprawled on the floor from exhaustion by its wholly satisfying end.

NZ International Film Festival 2011

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