I'll give director Takashi Miike credit for taking on adaptations or topics that would be very difficult to be made into films. However, If there is one genre I never expected this director to get his hands on a jidaigeki or samurai films. His directional style worked for this film and he surprisingly made a very good jidaigeki.
I have not seen the original and plan to watch it as soon as I get my hands on it. However, from what I have seen, the storyline was actually pretty good. The film focused very well on these assassins planning out their tactics, giving character depth on the characters who mattered, and portrayed their final battle against the warlord in a violent fashion that was just brilliant. One warning though, you will most likely be watching a film that follows the samurai's, planning out their tactics against the evil warlord throughout the film. Usually, this type of storytelling leads to a very boring movie; however, everything worked well enough where you will barely be bored and will be entertained. The film makes up the long wait with its final battle as the fight is one long fight. I liked how Miike presented the film as a samurai film and nothing different. You have the samurai honor, samurai code, and the samurai's and citizens acting like how they should during that time period.
I liked how the director portrayed the characters as it follows the time period and historical perspective of the time period. Unlike "Seven Samurai" as all of the samurai's played a vital role in the story, some of the recruits are not paid close attention to, as they are not in the same class as the samurai's who are paid attention the most. As the final battle occurred, I did forget that these assassins exist, but overall, their existence matters. Although they do play a vital role near the end, do not expect the film to focus onto these characters. All you need to know is that the Yakusho Koji's character, among others who have the most dialogue are the character's who you will care for the most.
I haven't seen a good cast in a Japanese film in quite a while. Yakusho Koji, Yamada Takayuki, Iseya Yuusuke, among others who are casted in this epic jidaigeki and they were all fantastic as their roles. Out of 13, at least 4-5 assassins were focused the most because of their class and all of the characters are awesome and likable. Iseya Yuusuke does play a character that you can recognize in "Seven Samurai," the wild character who joins the group of assassins; but I liked the character and he is a very good actor. Everyone who mattered in the film, performed very well and I really liked the cast they used for this film. You have a good amount of Japanese actors/actresses who were well casted and all gave it their best. Possibly, the most surprising was Nagai Goro who portrays the main antagonist. In Japan, there is a talent agency called Johnny's which holds a group of male idols who sing and dance around; basically an agency that promotes a great amount of Backstreet Boys. Most of them can't act nor sing and cause a film to go downhill fast because of their lack of talent. Nagai Goro is part of one of the boy bands named "SMAP" and isn't great when it comes to his acting skills; but surprisingly he was pretty good. His character is sadistic and evil as it comes and Goro pulled it off pretty well.
What surprised me most was the serious tone he delivered for this film. From all of the films I have seen by Miike, he always had to add these ridiculous scenes in between the plot; to add humor in between the story. I watched the 20 minutes of deleted scenes from the international release and surprisingly, all of the scenes that were cut out from the final cut didn't have as much ridiculous moments that I expected; they were scenes that could have made it to the final cut. However, as expected, their was one ridiculous scene and was glad to see that part being cut out. One thing that might be weird to people will be the ending as something peculiar happens. The ending will definitely cause some confusion, but I really liked how he made it an open ending. His ending will definitely get you thinking and it really worked for me.
If you have watched "Seven Samurai," then you know that the film presents a very long climactic battle. As I read in a few Japanese websites, both, this and the original, presents a very long climactic battle. If I remember correctly, the final battle is at least 45 minutes and what a long battle it was. The battle goes non-stop as you see the assassin's cut down their enemies one by one and seeing their planned tactic go into play. Miike really used his style of directing and created a bloody and violent battle that was entertaining. This film is a gore fest as you see blood squirting everywhere and seeing that all of the characters are pretty awesome.
It's been a while since I've seen a very good samurai film and Miike definitely surprised me with this flick. If you enjoy Miike's work or love samurai films, then you will have a blast watching this film.
I have not seen the original and plan to watch it as soon as I get my hands on it. However, from what I have seen, the storyline was actually pretty good. The film focused very well on these assassins planning out their tactics, giving character depth on the characters who mattered, and portrayed their final battle against the warlord in a violent fashion that was just brilliant. One warning though, you will most likely be watching a film that follows the samurai's, planning out their tactics against the evil warlord throughout the film. Usually, this type of storytelling leads to a very boring movie; however, everything worked well enough where you will barely be bored and will be entertained. The film makes up the long wait with its final battle as the fight is one long fight. I liked how Miike presented the film as a samurai film and nothing different. You have the samurai honor, samurai code, and the samurai's and citizens acting like how they should during that time period.
I liked how the director portrayed the characters as it follows the time period and historical perspective of the time period. Unlike "Seven Samurai" as all of the samurai's played a vital role in the story, some of the recruits are not paid close attention to, as they are not in the same class as the samurai's who are paid attention the most. As the final battle occurred, I did forget that these assassins exist, but overall, their existence matters. Although they do play a vital role near the end, do not expect the film to focus onto these characters. All you need to know is that the Yakusho Koji's character, among others who have the most dialogue are the character's who you will care for the most.
I haven't seen a good cast in a Japanese film in quite a while. Yakusho Koji, Yamada Takayuki, Iseya Yuusuke, among others who are casted in this epic jidaigeki and they were all fantastic as their roles. Out of 13, at least 4-5 assassins were focused the most because of their class and all of the characters are awesome and likable. Iseya Yuusuke does play a character that you can recognize in "Seven Samurai," the wild character who joins the group of assassins; but I liked the character and he is a very good actor. Everyone who mattered in the film, performed very well and I really liked the cast they used for this film. You have a good amount of Japanese actors/actresses who were well casted and all gave it their best. Possibly, the most surprising was Nagai Goro who portrays the main antagonist. In Japan, there is a talent agency called Johnny's which holds a group of male idols who sing and dance around; basically an agency that promotes a great amount of Backstreet Boys. Most of them can't act nor sing and cause a film to go downhill fast because of their lack of talent. Nagai Goro is part of one of the boy bands named "SMAP" and isn't great when it comes to his acting skills; but surprisingly he was pretty good. His character is sadistic and evil as it comes and Goro pulled it off pretty well.
What surprised me most was the serious tone he delivered for this film. From all of the films I have seen by Miike, he always had to add these ridiculous scenes in between the plot; to add humor in between the story. I watched the 20 minutes of deleted scenes from the international release and surprisingly, all of the scenes that were cut out from the final cut didn't have as much ridiculous moments that I expected; they were scenes that could have made it to the final cut. However, as expected, their was one ridiculous scene and was glad to see that part being cut out. One thing that might be weird to people will be the ending as something peculiar happens. The ending will definitely cause some confusion, but I really liked how he made it an open ending. His ending will definitely get you thinking and it really worked for me.
If you have watched "Seven Samurai," then you know that the film presents a very long climactic battle. As I read in a few Japanese websites, both, this and the original, presents a very long climactic battle. If I remember correctly, the final battle is at least 45 minutes and what a long battle it was. The battle goes non-stop as you see the assassin's cut down their enemies one by one and seeing their planned tactic go into play. Miike really used his style of directing and created a bloody and violent battle that was entertaining. This film is a gore fest as you see blood squirting everywhere and seeing that all of the characters are pretty awesome.
It's been a while since I've seen a very good samurai film and Miike definitely surprised me with this flick. If you enjoy Miike's work or love samurai films, then you will have a blast watching this film.